Taliban says bombers target minivan in Afghanistan, 7 dead

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A bomb attached to a packed minivan exploded in Herat Province Western Afghanistan on Saturday, killing at least seven civilians and injuring nine others, Taliban officials said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion, but the Islamic state had claimed credit for a similar attack on civilians and new Taliban leaders elsewhere in the country since the group seized power on August 15.

Saturday’s bomb was the first attack like Herat. The official local Taliban Naeemulhaq Haqqani said the investigation was ongoing.

A Taliban intelligence official at West Herat told the Associated Press that the bomb was attached to the van fuel tank. He spoke with anonymous requirements because he was not authorized to release information to the public.

Herat Ambulance Chief Ebrahim Mohammadi said the victims – three were in critical condition – transferred to the provincial hospital.

Since they returned to power, the Taliban had imposed extensive restrictions, many of them were directed at women.

The mission of the United Nations assistance in Afghanistan on Saturday asked the Taliban to find two women’s rights activists – Tamana Zaryab Pyani and Parawana Ibrahimkhel – who disappeared on Wednesday from Kabul.

“We urge the Taliban to provide information about their existence & to protect the rights of all Afghans,” Unama said in Saturday’s tweet. The Taliban has denied involvement in their loss.

An eyewitness said that at least a gunman of ten people claimed to be a member of the Taliban intelligence entered an apartment Wednesday in Kabul and arrested Tamana Zaryab Panyani and three sisters.

Activists of women’s rights post videos on social media shortly before they were taken away, showing them fear, panting and shouting for help. He said that the Taliban banged the door.

Paryani is among about 25 women who participated in the anti-Taliban protest last weekend against compulsory Islamic headscarves, or headscarves, for women.