16 Children Die in Logar Province Truck Bomb Blast

Count the number of children in this picture. Double it and add two. That's how many kids died in Logar this morning. (photo by P.J.)

A truck on its way to Kabul blew a tire this morning in a market in Logar province, about an hour south from where I sit typing.

Children from the village of Soark Abad crowded around  to take a look, followed shortly by the police. As soon as the cops showed up, a bomb inside the truck detonated, killing 16 children 4 policemen and 4 civilians.

The truck was loaded with timber, so I can only imagine how much deadly shrapnel must have filled the air, tearing through flesh and decimating the market. BBC says the blast radius was a full mile.

Logar is a key province because it holds a major road going right to Kabul, and the Taliban have long used the area as a weapons transport hub. Maybe that truck bomb was meant for Kabul. Maybe children dying will change the minds of the elders in Logar who help the insurgents. Maybe not. Right now, I don’t really care.

I just know that the families of Soark Abad are living a nightmare right now. Muslim burial rights require that bodies be interred as soon as possible, so as you read this, parents in Logar are literally picking up the pieces of their children and preparing to put them in the ground.

“O Allah! Forgive those of us who are still living and those who are dead; those of us who are present and those who are absent, and our minors and our elders. O Allah! Let the one whom Thou keepest alive from among us, live his life according to Islam, and let the one Thou causeth to die from among us, die as a believer.”–Muslim funeral prayer