RABAT, Afghanistan: At least 10 Afghan civilians were killed and 35 wounded on a road near a major US base after a small bomb punctured a hole in the side of a fuel tanker that was later engulfed by a large blaze, eyewitnesses and officials said on Wednesday.
The tanker started leaking after the initial small blast on Tuesday night and people from nearby Rabat village, including children, rushed to collect some of the oil. Shortly after, the whole tanker went up in flames, an eyewitness said.
| Brilliant idea folks, running towards the danger... |
Roshna Khalid, a spokeswoman for the provincial governor, said the bomb had been stuck to the side of the tanker with a magnet. There were 10 dead and 35 wounded in hospitals in Parwan province, north of Kabul, and in the capital, she said.
The Parwan governor blamed terrorists insurgents. This was a terrorist attack and a magnet bomb was placed on a fuel tanker that exploded, said governor Abdul Basir Salangi.
Afghan security forces have prevented at least two similar explosions near Bagram in the past three months, Khalid said. Small explosive devices blasted holes in two tankers in Qarabagh district of Kabul province but security forces prevented people from approaching the vehicles to collect fuel, she said. 
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