Highway collision kills two, injures three in Afghanistan's Laghman

Kabul: At least two people were killed and three others injured in a highway collision in eastern Afghanistan's Laghman province, the provincial police office reported.

The accident took place when a Hino truck collided with a rickshaw coming from the opposite direction in the Azizkhan Kas region, along the highway linking the capital Kabul to the eastern provinces on Sunday, according to the police statement.

Reckless driving was cited as the primary cause of the incident, said the office, adding that the injured were taken to the Laghman provincial hospital for treatment, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Deadly road accidents remain a persistent issue in war-torn Afghanistan, often attributed to deteriorating road conditions, reckless driving, and inadequate safety measures amid challenging terrain and limited infrastructure.

On October 30, five commuters were killed and 20 others injured, some of them critically, when a passenger bus collided head-on with an oil tanker in Afghanistan's northern Baghlan province, the official Bakhtar News Agency reported.

The deadly accident occurred on the Salang Highway and was attributed to driver negligence, the media outlet reported, adding that all the injured were taken to nearby health centres for treatment.

Bakhtar provided no further details, saying that an investigation into the incident was underway.

On October 24, at least four people were killed and eight others injured when a passenger vehicle overturned in Afghanistan's remote northern province of Badakhshan, local media reported.

The accident occurred as the car was heading from Kofab and Yaftal districts of the province, Ariana News quoted a local official as saying.

Authorities did not disclose the cause of the crash. The injured were transferred to the provincial hospital for medical treatment.

Badakhshan, a sparsely populated and mountainous province, is characterised by rugged terrain and limited road infrastructure factors that frequently contribute to traffic accidents in the region.

On September 23, eight commuters were killed, and four others sustained injuries in a road accident in northern Afghanistan's Takhar province, a local police official reported.

The fatal incident occurred in the Gazestan region, Kalafgan district, after a vehicle veered off the road and overturned, killing eight travellers on the spot and injuring four others, said Naqibullah Masroor, the provincial police spokesman.

The injured were shifted to the provincial hospital of Takhar, said Masroor, adding that the cause of the incident remains under investigation.

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