Children among casualties as explosive-laden vehicle detonates near mosque in Shindand district in Herat province.

At least eight people, including children, have been killed and several others wounded in a bomb blast in Afghanistan’s western Herat province, according to a government official. 

Explosives planted in an auto-rickshaw [a three-wheeled vehicle] detonated late afternoon on Monday near a mosque in the Shindand district, Jillani Farhad, the Herat governor’s spokesman, said.

He said the explosion took place at a busy market in the district.

The provincial ambulance services head told Pajhwok news agency that 17 people had been injured in the blast.

Images circulating on social media showed the debris and damage in the aftermath of the explosion.

The Afghan Taliban denied via Twitter involvement in Monday’s attack.

Herat, one of Afghanistan’s largest provinces, is located in the southwest of the country, sharing a crucial border with Iran.

Monday’s explosion comes after at least one person was killed and seven others wounded in an explosion outside a Shia mosque in Herat city last month.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group claimed responsibility for that attack.

Last week, dozens of civilians, including children, were killed in an Afghan air attack on a gathering at a religious school in the northern province of Kunduz, according to reports.

Afghanistan’s air force, backed by US-led NATO coalition advisers, has accelerated aerial raids in the country in recent months to push the Taliban to the negotiating table.

However, civilians have reportedly been killed in several incidents.

UpFront

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