Deadly blast hits Afghan bus

Roadside bombs, often called improvised explosive devices (IEDs), have proven to be a scourge of the war in Afghanistan.

Classified Nato military records recently releasedto the public by the whistleblower website Wikileaks document at least 7,202 IED explosions between 2004 and 2009, though the majority occurred in the south and east of the country.

According to an analysis of the releaseby the Guardian newspaper, 2,187 civilians were killed and 4,811 wounded by IEDs in the five years covered by the data.