Kabul, July 31 (RHC)-- A roadside bomb in Afghanistan has killed at least 34 people and wounded 10 others, with the casualties being mostly women and children.

A passenger bus traveling on the Kandahar-Herat highway hit the roadside bomb, according to an official in Farah Province, Muhibullah Muhib.  He said all the passengers aboard the bus had been civilians, most of them women and children.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.  The Taliban, however, often conduct such roadside bomb attacks.  And Farooq Barakzai, a spokesman for Farah’s governor, said the toll could rise.

Afghanistan continues to be gripped by violence even as the Taliban are negotiating with the United States government about a potential end to the war and militancy that began when U.S. and its allies invaded Afghanistan 18 years ago.

Just on Tuesday, the United Nations said civilians were being killed and wounded at a “shocking” level in Afghanistan.  It said that at least 3,812 Afghan civilians had been killed or injured in the first half of 2019 in the war in Afghanistan.  Child casualties represented almost one-third of the overall total of civilian casualtie