Taliban bomb kills eight Afghan civilians

KABUL // A Taliban roadside bombing killed eight civilians, including women and children, in the Afghan province of Helmand, the government said today.

The blast on Monday in Musa Qala, a Taliban-infested district in the southern province also injured five others travelling through the insurgency-hit region, the interior ministry said.

"Eight of our innocent civilian countrymen are dead and five others are injured in a mine planted by the enemies of Afghanistan," it said in a statement, referring to the Taliban.

Thousands of Afghan civilians have been killed in a 10-year insurgency being waged by the Taliban to topple the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

The rebels use roadside bombings to target Afghan and foreign military forces but they often miss their target and kill ordinary people travelling on the same roads.

For the past five years the number of civilians killed in the war has risen steadily, reaching a record 3,021 in 2011 -- the vast majority caused by insurgents, according to UN figures.

The US-led NATO force is also responsible for hundreds of civilian casualties every year, mostly in air strikes aimed at insurgents in Afghan villages.