Afghan Children Killed in Bomb Blast

SoS children reports 

9/7/2009 - Another incidence of violence in Afghanistan has left 25 people dead, including both civilians and police officers. More than half of the victims were children on their way to school.

Early this morning, explosives planted in an overturned truck in the Afghan province of Logar exploded. 25 people were killed, 15 of them children. As of current information, 3 other children are reported missing.
Witnesses say that the truck had been overturned either last night or in the wee hours of the morning. When police officers arrived at the scene to investigate, the explosives were detonated - most likely by remote control, reports the Globe and Mail. The timing of the blast was likely planned strategically for when the streets would be most crowded with morning traffic.
The motive behind the attack is still unclear. One government official even suggested that the explosives had detonated accidentally and that the militants had actually aimed to smuggle explosives into the country.
Yet, it is possible that the children (aged 8 to 12) were targeted specifically. Especially since the War on Terror in Afghanistan began, rebel militias have targeted schools in hopes of shutting them down. Two years ago, 15 school children and teachers in Kandahar, one of the remaining Taliban strongholds, were brutally attacked with acid.
The safety of children in Afghanistan has taken some serious hits. Landmines, unexploded bombs, and the danger of being killed in terrorist attacks are all serious child protection issues; they may even be the reason 2 million school-aged Afghan children do not attend classes.
The number of children dying before they have reached their fifth birthdays is 257 per thousand. This puts Afghanistan’s child mortality rate among the highest in the world.
Afghanistan’s current President, Hamid Karzai, was quoted by the New York Times as calling the attack “barbaric and cowardly;” these types of terrorist attacks that deliberately target innocent and blameless civilians are “against all Islamic and human values.”
This week has been one of particularly heavy violence, and this type of attack is becoming more common throughout the country. Awareness of security and civilian safety issues feature even more prominently in the Afghan agenda nowadays, as rumours of terrorist attacks planned for the presidential elections on August 20 circulate.