Nine children killed in bomb explosion in Afghanistan

Nine children were killed when a bomb exploded in northern Faryab province late Friday, officials said.

The incident which took place in   district, left four others wounded, a provincial council member, Nadir Saeedi, said.Another provincial council member, Mohammad Arif, put the casualty toll at eight dead and five injured.The bomb was planted near a security checkpoint to target security forces, the two officials said. The officials blamed Taliban militants for the incident.The militants did not immediately comment on the issue.A total of 10,453 civilian casualties - 3,438 people killed and 7,015 injured - were documented in 2017, United Nations' Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said in a report in February.Although this figure represents a decrease of nine percent compared with 2016, the report highlights the high number of casualties caused by suicide bombings and other attacks using improvised explosivedevices (IEDs).