Bicycle bomb wounds 26 Afghans

A powerful explosive device placed on a bicycle went off on Monday in Khost city, capital of Khost province 150 km southeast of Afghan capital Kabul, leaving over two dozen people, all civilians, injured, the provincial administration confirmed in a statement sent to media. "The terrorists planted explosive object in a bicycle and detonated it in Sargardan Choak area in Khost city this morning, injuring 26 innocent civilians," the statement added. In the statement the khost provincial administration put the attack on the "enemies of peace", a term referring to Taliban militants by Afghan officials. The statement also called on security organs to spare no efforts in identifying and punishing those behind subversive activities in Khost and elsewhere in the country. Earlier, a local official on the condition of anonymity reported killing two people and injuring 18 others in the blast that rocked Khost city. "The terrorists planted the bomb in the cavities of a bicycle and detonated it with a remote control in Sargardan Choak area, Khost city at around 11:00 a.m. local time, killing two people and injuring 18, mostly civilians," the official told Xinhua but declined to give his name, saying authorized officials would brief the media after investigation. Hospital sources have also confirmed the injury of over two dozen people in the blast. Director of health department in Khost city, Amir Badshah has confirmed that 26 injured people had been taken to hospitals for medical treatment, some of whom were in critical condition. In the conflict-ridden Afghanistan, the non-combatants often bear the brunt of the endemic conflicts. "Between January 1 and June 30, 2012, conflict-related violence resulted in 3,099 civilian casualties or 1,145 civilians killed and 1,954 others injured, a 15 percent decrease in overall civilian casualties compared with the same period in 2011," a report of United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released here in last August said. The report attributed 80 percent of harming civilians to the anti-government militants. According to the report, 3,021 civilians died last year, 1,510 of them in the first six months in the conflict-battered Afghanistan.