The ministry blamed the attack on “enemies of Afghanistan's people”, a phrase often used by officials to refer to the Taliban. — File Photo

KABUL: A total of 13 civilians including children and women were killed Wednesday by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan, officials in Kabul said.

The blast hit a three-wheeled vehicle and killed “13 of our innocent civilian compatriots, including women, children and elderly men,” the interior ministry said in a statement.

The ministry blamed the attack on “enemies of Afghanistan's people”, a phrase often used by officials to refer to the Taliban.

Some 28 Afghan civilians have now been killed in three roadside bombings in the last four days.

The latest attack happened in Khoshamand district of Paktika province which borders Pakistan, where militants have hideouts in the lawless border regions.

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) or home-made bombs are the weapon of choice for insurgents and are a frequent cause of death for civilians as well as foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Afghan officials say that last year 2,043 civilians died as a result of Taliban attacks and military operations targeting the militants.

The latest incident comes three days after nine civilians – six women, two men and a child – died in a roadside bombing in northern Afghanistan as they travelled to a wedding on a road often used by foreign forces.

A day earlier another roadside bomb killed six people travelling in a minibus in the Sangin district of Helmand province in the troubled south.

In other unrest, officials said that 12 Afghan militants were killed when the bombs they were making exploded in northwest Afghanistan on Tuesday.

Six other people were injured in the explosion in Faryab province, which borders Turkmenistan.

Also on Tuesday, 13 militants died in fighting between two factions in southern Zabul province.

Meanwhile, a suicide bomber was shot by police before detonating his explosives-laden vest Wednesday as he crossed from Pakistan at the border town of Spin Boldak in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

No one else was injured in the incident. A suicide bomber killed 17 people including a police commander at a public bath in Spin Boldak earlier this month in Afghanistan's deadliest blast since October last year.