By Zabihullah Tamanna
KABUL
At least five civilians including two children lost their lives following a Taliban attack early Friday morning in Nangarhar Province, about 95 miles (150 kilometers) east of Kabul, the country's capital, Afghan authorities said.
It is not known whether the attack was deliberate or the militants were waiting for a different target.
"A Taliban attack on a civilian vehicle at 6 a.m. local time (0130GMT) in the Khogiani district of Nangarhar province has killed five, including two kids, and injured two others," provincial police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal told The Anadolu agency.
Mashriqiwal said the victims were heading to a picnic that is held every Friday in the district.
"An investigative team was sent to the scene to find the motive behind the attack," he said.
The Taliban, which has been waging an insurgency for more than a decade, has yet to comment on the incident.
At least 14 men and women, including a newlywed couple, were executed by Taliban militants in July, in Ghor Province, in central Afghanistan.
According to a report released in July by the United Nations, ground combat is taking a "devastating" civilian toll, with a sharp rise in casualties.
The report said the number of civilians killed by anti-government forces in 2014 is double the number killed in 2009, when the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan began to monitor civilian casualties.
The report said that civilian casualties from Jan. 1 to June 30 of this year were 34 percent higher than in the same period in 2013.
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