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| Attack by Gunmen on Afghan Highway Unnerves Travelers | Attack by Gunmen on Afghan Highway Unnerves Travelers |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| KABUL, Afghanistan — As many as 13 people were killed on one of Afghanistan’s most important roads early Tuesday morning when gunmen opened fire on a bus and two other vehicles, the authorities here said. | KABUL, Afghanistan — As many as 13 people were killed on one of Afghanistan’s most important roads early Tuesday morning when gunmen opened fire on a bus and two other vehicles, the authorities here said. |
| The episode is the latest in a series of attacks on the highway connecting Kabulwith the southern city of Kandahar, and a grim reminder of the dangers of road travel across Afghanistan. | |
| The attack, around 1 a.m. on Tuesday, occurred southwest of Kabul, in Wardak Province, where the Taliban have a strong presence. Gunmen fired on a bus, as well as on two trucks, killing 12 men and a woman, said Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor. A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said the attackers were not connected to the Taliban. | The attack, around 1 a.m. on Tuesday, occurred southwest of Kabul, in Wardak Province, where the Taliban have a strong presence. Gunmen fired on a bus, as well as on two trucks, killing 12 men and a woman, said Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor. A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said the attackers were not connected to the Taliban. |
| Last month, about 30 bus passengers, most or all of them members of the Hazara ethnic minority, were abducted along the same highway. Their fate remains unknown, as does the precise identity of their kidnappers, despite attempts by the Afghan military to find them. | Last month, about 30 bus passengers, most or all of them members of the Hazara ethnic minority, were abducted along the same highway. Their fate remains unknown, as does the precise identity of their kidnappers, despite attempts by the Afghan military to find them. |
| Afghans traveling between the country’s south and Kabul have long had to contend with Taliban checkpoints and banditry. But last month’s kidnappings have rattled travelers, with one bus company reporting that the number of passengers between Kabul and Kandahar had dropped to about half of what it was in past years, according to a local news report. | |
| Just 12 hours before the attack on Tuesday, on the same highway, in Ghazni Province about 90 miles to the south, a driver and three passengers were also shot to death, the deputy governor of Ghazni, Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, said in a telephone interview. | Just 12 hours before the attack on Tuesday, on the same highway, in Ghazni Province about 90 miles to the south, a driver and three passengers were also shot to death, the deputy governor of Ghazni, Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, said in a telephone interview. |
| Mr. Ahmadi said one of the passengers was the son of a government official on Afghanistan’s peace council and appeared to have been targeted. | |
| In a separate attack in Ghazni on Monday, six children were killed when an explosion ripped through a playground in the provincial capital, Mr. Ahmadi said. At least nine other children were wounded, he said. |