Afghan official: Blast kills 4 kids, wounds dozens

An explosion ripped through a group of civilians and foreign troops in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing four children and a policeman and wounding dozens of civilians and three US soldiers, officials said.

An explosion ripped through a group of civilians and foreign troops in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing four children and a policeman and wounding dozens of civilians and three US soldiers, officials said.

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The Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement that the blast in Nangrahar province occurred when a passing police vehicle hit a mine. The ministry called it a terrorist act, implying the mine had been planted by insurgents.

Buz Mohammad, the province's deputy public health chief, said four children were killed. He also told The Associated Press that 43 people, most of them children, were wounded.

Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, the spokesman for the provincial governor, told the AP earlier that the wounded included three US soldiers. NATO's International Security Assistance Force said nine of its soldiers were wounded, but could not specify their nationalities.

Abdulzai said the soldiers were visiting a road construction project funded by the United States. He said two children and a policeman were killed.