Four schoolgirls killed in Taliban IED blast.

Tragedy ... four young girls
 were killed by a Taliban IED

AT least four young girls have been killed by a Taliban roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

The girls, said to be aged between seven and 12, were attending a wedding in 

Helmand province and had gone to collect water when they were blown up by an IED.

Civilian casualties in the south of the war-torn country have increased recently due to the growing use of improvised explosives by insurgents.

Elsewhere the most senior female police officer in the province has been shot dead.

Lieutenant Islam Bibi, 37, who had come under heavy criticism - including death threats from her own brother - was gunned down as she left her home this morning.

The mum-of-three's long struggle to work outside the home was typical of many women in conservative, rural areas of Afghanistan.

Omar Zwaak, spokesman for the governor of Helmand, said Lt Bibi had been attacked as she rode on a motorbike in Lashkar Gah.

He said: “She was seriously injured and died of injuries later in the emergency ward in hospital.”(Courtesy:The Sun News)