KABUL, Oct 19: An explosion from a roadside bomb tore into a minibus carrying people to a wedding in northern Afghanistan on Friday, leaving 19 dead and 16 wounded, authorities said.    

Spokesman Shir Jan Durani said the group was travelling to Dawlat Abad district, about 450 kilometres northwest of the capital, Kabul.

District police commander Bismullah Muslimyar said six children and seven women were among the dead in the blast, which occurred at 6 a.m. after a nighttime police patrol. Afghan President Hamid Karzai strongly condemned the attack.

’’Planting a mine on a road used by civilians and the killing of innocent people represents hostility toward humanity,” he said in a statement.

Separately, six football fans died and 36 were injured on Friday when their bus collided with a fuel tanker on a narrow road about 400kms northwest of the capital, provincial governor Mohammad Aleem Saaie said. The fans were travelling to Kabul for the final round of the country’s football championships.—AP