Ten civilians, including five women and two children, have been killed in a "terrorist" ambush in northern Afghanistan, state television reported on Friday. The ambush occurred at 9:30 pm on Thursday when a vehicle carrying 12 people was attacked on a road in Samangan province, which borders Tajkistan and Uzbekistan, the report quoted a local commander, Rahmatullah, as saying. The vehicle had been travelling from the village of Shirkar, 60 kilometres east of the provincial capital Aybak, when it was hit by three anti-tank rockets, then peppered with small arms fire. Ten civilians were killed, another person injured and a child left unhurt, according to the report. Nine attackers fled the scene. Samangan province has largely escaped the violence which has beset many areas of Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001. The Taliban has launched a series of bloody attacks in southern Afghanistan in the past few months but the hardline Islamic movement has traditionally had few supporters in Samangan.
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