The tourists were on their way to Herat, Afghanistan’s third largest city. The particular route they chose to go there, however, is reportedly a dangerous one often avoided by Afghan citizens, and it is unclear why the convoy decided to take it. No group has taken responsibility for the attack, while a spokesman for the governor of Herat Province blamed the attack on Taliban.
The incident follows a string of violent attacks in Afghanistan. On Monday, a policeman and three Taliban attackers died in a truck bomb attack in the capital city of Kabul. The attack had targeted a heavily guarded hotel close to Kabul’s international airport.
Earlier on July 23rd, Kabul suffered its worst terrorist attack since 2001 when two suicide bombers targeted a rally by Afghanistan’s Hazara Shi’i minority, claiming 80 lives and injuring 231 others. The Taliban called the attack “tragic” and “a plot to ignite civil war,” and the terrorist organization Daesh claimed responsibility for it. Both groups have a history of targeting the Hazara minority, who number at 3,000,000 and constitute nearly 10% of the Afghan population.
As fighting between government forces and the Taliban continues, UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) announced in a report on Monday that civilian and child deaths in the conflict hit a record high in the first half of 2016. The organization reported that 5,166 civilians were killed in this period, amongst them 388 children. Over 150,000 Afghans have been displaced since the beginning of this year, with an estimated total of 1.2 people displaced as a result of the conflict.