Afghanistan bus bombing kills eight

A roadside bomb ripped through a bus in southwest Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing eight passengers and wounding others, a senior provincial official said.

"Eight civilians have been killed and a number of others have been wounded in a roadside bomb blast in Delaram district," Farah deputy provincial governor Mohammad Younus Rasouli told AFP.

There was no immediately claim of responsibility, but similar incidents in the past have been blamed on Taliban militants.

Rasouli said the men were travelling in a minibus on a road between Farah and the neighbouring province of Nimroz when the incident took place.

Farah, which lies on the border with Iran, has seen a spike in insurgent attacks in recent months. A soldier serving with US-led coalition forces was killed on operations there at the weekend.

The hardline Islamic Taliban militia, who were in government from 1996 to 2001 are trying to regain power from the central government, which is backed by a 70,000-strong international force mainly serving under Nato.

Scores of civilians have been killed in roadside bombs and suicide attacks which are aimed at Afghan and foreign security forces but usually miss their targets.

According to a United Nations report, about 1,500 Afghan civilians died in insurgent attacks and anti-militant raids by Afghan troops and their Western allies in 2007.