Taliban detonate lorry bomb in eastern Afghanistan | World news

 

• Monday 28 March 2011 08.16 BST

• Article history

A lorry loaded with explosives has detonated inside the compound of a road construction company in eastern Afghanistan, killing 20 people and wounding about 50, an Afghan official said.

The vehicle exploded late on Sunday in the Barmal district of Paktika province, according to provincial spokesman Mokhlis Afghan.

A statement issued by the Afghan interior ministry said three insurgents carried out the attack, shooting their way into the compound before detonating the bomb.

The area where the attack took place is located on the border with Pakistan's lawless tribal regions, which serve as safe havens for insurgents that infiltrate into Afghanistan across the mountainous frontier.

The region has seen an escalation in violence over the past few months.

The spokesman said all the dead and wounded were labourers and there were no Afghan or foreign forces at the site. He added that the explosion was so powerful that little remained of the lorry.

"We are investigating what caused the explosion, but in this attack all the casualties are innocent civilian people. They are all poor people who were working as labourers in a construction company," he said. The US-led coalition had no immediate comment.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was the work of a suicide bomber. He said in an emailed statement that it was targeting a joint Afghan-Nato operating base.