Nineteen people, including six children and seven women, killed in blast that hit a minibus on a road in northern Afghanistan

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

An explosion from a roadside bomb tore into a minibus carrying people to a wedding in northern Afghanistan on Friday, leaving 19 dead and 16 wounded, authorities said.

Spokesman Shir Jan Durani said the group was travelling to Dawlat Abad district, about 270 miles (450km) north-west of the capital, Kabul.

District police commander Bismullah Muslimyar said six children and seven women were among those killed in the blast, which occurred at 6am local time.

The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, strongly condemned the attack.

"Planting a mine on a road used by civilians and the killing of innocent people represents hostility toward humanity," he said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the UN security council expressed serious concern at the high number of civilian casualties in the war, especially among women and children.

The Taliban and other militants are responsible for the overwhelming majority of civilian deaths in the country. About 77% of the deaths between January and June can be attributed to insurgents, a UN report said.

Insurgent-placed homemade bombs continue to be the deadliest weapon for civilians, accounting for 29% of all such deaths in the period, it said.

Separately, six football fans died and 36 were injured on Friday when their bus collided with a fuel tanker on a narrow road about 240 miles north-west of the capital, provincial governor Mohammad Aleem Saaie said. The fans were travelling to Kabul for the final round of the country's football championships.