Taliban child killers strike again

NY Times:

A huge explosion in a truck Thursday killed 24 people south of Kabul, including 16 schoolchildren, 4 policemen and 4 bystanders, local officials said, as the death toll among foreign soldiers fighting in Afghanistan rose.

The explosion, which also wounded five civilians, happened in Logar Province when a truck loaded with wood turned over.

When the police arrived, militants apparently detonated explosives in the vehicle, causing a blast that scattered debris almost a mile from the scene, officials said.

Attiqullah Lodin, the governor of the province, said that the children had gathered near the overturned truck and were killed when the blast went off.

“Sixteen schoolchildren aged 8 to 12 were killed along with policemen and other civilians,” Mr. Lodin said.

He said two shops close to the blast were completely destroyed and rescue crews were working to try to find victims trapped under the rubble. He predicted that the death toll could rise.

Abul Hamid, the district governor of Mohammad Agha, where the explosion occurred, said the explosives probably had been detonated by remote control. He said the force of the blast had destroyed shops, damaged houses and mangled the bodies of the victims.

...

If it was exploded by remote control, the killers had to know they would be killing the kids deliberately. It shows the lack of concern for noncombatants that the Taliban have. It was clearly a deliberate war crime and should be characterized as such by our side.

The Washington Post reports speculation that the bomb may have been intended for noncombatants in Kabul to effect the election. Kabul is 30 miles north of the blast site.