Bus Collision Kills 51 in Afghanistan

A bus and truck collided and burst into flames in eastern Afghanistan today, killing at least 51 people. The collision occurred in Ghazni province on a highway that links the Afghan capital of Kabul with Kandahar, the largest city in the south. At least 51 of the 56 passengers on the bus were killed, said the provincial police chief. The fate of the two drivers was not immediately known. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined, he said, but he ruled out the possibility of an attack.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Paktika province said that six civilians died after the tractor they were riding in hit a roadside mine yesterday. The civilians were returning home from collecting firewood in the mountains when they struck the bomb, he said. Separately, the US-led military coalition said a NATO service member was killed yesterday during an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan. (More Afghanistan stories.)