Two Afghan de-miners were killed and another six wounded when a roadside bomb hit their truck Sunday in southern Afghanistan, officials said, The Associated Press reported. The blast occurred as the men were driving toward an old army base in Kandahar province where they were going to clear mines, said Mohammed Ashraf, regional director for the Halo Trust mine clearance agency. The six wounded were rushed to hospitals in Kandahar city. Thousands of Afghans are employed as de-miners across Afghanistan to clear the remnants of a quarter-century of war. Meanwhile a second roadside bomb exploded in the province Sunday, wounding three Afghan soldiers traveling in a truck, local commander Gen. Muslim Hamid said. Insurgent violence in volatile southern and eastern regions has stepped up in the past half year, leaving more than 1,400 people dead. --SP 2309 Local Time 2009 GMT
