A Taleban ambush on a highway left six truckers dead, and a roadside bomb killed another six Afghans in a crowded van, the government said Monday. Afghanistan's civilian death toll has risen alongside that of US and international forces this summer to more than 1,500 this year - three-quarters of them at the hands of militants, according to a recent UN report. As the Taleban grip extends across ever greater territory, vast stretches of highway and road are falling into their hands. On Sunday, Taleban militants ambushed a group of truck drivers in eastern Kunar province, killing six of the drivers and burning their vehicles, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. A seventh truck driver was kidnapped. Also Sunday, a private van hit a roadside bomb in northern Faryab province, the ministry said in a separate statement. Six of those inside were killed and another seven injured, the statement said. The planted bombs have become a major cause of deaths and injuries for both international troops and Afghan civilians. Some are remotely detonated, but many are simply placed on roads and triggered by a vehicle riding over the explosive. – AP The UN report issued Saturday said August was the deadliest month of the year for civilians as the Taleban stepped up a campaign of violence to discourage voting in the Aug. 20 election. A total of 1,500 civilians died in Afghanistan from January through August, up from 1,145 for the same period of 2008, the UN report said.
