Afghan civilian toll in May tops 360

A STRING of attacks across Afghanistan, including one by a suicide bomber pushing an ice cream cart, killed at least 21 people yesterday as the UN said that May was the deadliest month for Afghan civilians since 2007.

The worst attack took place in the Khakrez district of Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan, where a roadside bomb killed all 16 people travelling in a minibus, including eight children. The bomb was planted by the Taleban and was intended for Nato or Afghan forces.

In the eastern province of Khost, a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the local police headquarters in the Shai Kali area, killing three policemen and a child.

Among the four people killed in the blast was a local police chief, Mohammad Zahir Khan. It was not clear whether Khan was specifically targeted. Provincial health director Hedayatullah Hamidi said 25 also were wounded in the attack. A second suicide bomber, this one pushing an ice cream cart, killed one child and wounded three more in the central Afghanistan province of Ghazni.

The violence came the same day the UN released a report on civilian deaths that showed last month 368 people were killed in the conflict and 593 were wounded, making May the deadliest month for Afghan civilians in four years.