Bomb kills six Afghans, including two children

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KABUL, June 2, 2009 (AFP) - A bomb ripped through a vehicle northeast of Kabul on Tuesday and killed six Afghan civilians, including two children, the interior ministry told AFP.

It was not immediately clear if the bomb was planted in the road, which runs past the largest US military base in Afghanistan, or was fixed to the vehicle, interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP.

"Two men and two women and two children are killed," he said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for attack. Such blasts are usually directed at the Afghan or foreign security forces that are trying to put down an insurgency led by the Taliban.

It comes a week after another bombing in the same area killed three US troops serving with a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) as well as three Afghan civilians.

Insurgents have stepped up bomb attacks in Afghanistan in recent weeks after vowing in April to widen their campaign against the government.

Four US soldiers from ISAF were killed in two bomb strikes on Monday in the province of Wardak, which also adjoins Kabul, the force said.

Homemade bombs — called improvised-explosive devices by the military — cause 70-80 percent of the casualties to foreign troops in Afghanistan but also kill more civilians that soldiers, the military says.