KABUL, March 25, SPA -- A roadside bomb ripped through a van carryingcivilians in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing seven people and wounding nine others, while three Australian soldiers were wounded in another blast in the south, officials said. The explosion that killed the civilians happened in Sabaridistrict of the eastern Khost province while the van was ona road also used by foreign and Afghan troops, said PoliceChief Abdul Qajum Bakizoy. He blamed Taliban militants forplanting the bomb, according to a report of Associated Press. In the southern Uruzgan province, a blast wounded threeAustralian soldiers and their interpreter, Australia'sDefense Department said in a statement Wednesday. The Australians were attacked by the Taliban whilepatrolling alongside Afghan soldiers, the statement said. «The wounded soldiers and interpreter were given combatfirst aid by the patrol and moved by helicopter to theDutch hospital at Tarin Kowt, when the tactical situationallowed,» the statement said.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/647749