Fiery Afghan bus crash kills 30, Taliban blamed
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A bus collided on Friday with the wreckage of a truck that was attacked by Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, killing 30 people aboard the bus in a fiery crash, officials said.
The battered truck was left in the middle of a narrow road on the border of Helmand and Kandahar provinces for several days after insurgents opened fire on it. Police considered the area too dangerous to enter, the officials said.
Before sunrise Friday, the bus smashed into the truck and both vehicles burst into flames, badly burning many of the bus passengers, said Abdul Razaq, the provincial police chief of Kandahar.
Razaq said eight passengers were injured. Omar Zawak, the governor's spokesman in Helmand province, put the injury total at 11. Both said the casualties included men, women and children.
The bus began its journey in the capital of Helmand province and was scheduled to stop in Kandahar city, then travel north to Kabul, the Afghan capital, Razaq said.
School bus overturns in northern Illinois
WADSWORTH, Ill. (AP) -- Authorities say a school bus carrying more than two dozen elementary school children has overturned in northern Illinois.
Television footage from the scene near the village of Wadsworth shows the bus on its side, with two mangled cars nearby. Debris was scattered in an adjacent farm field.
Lake County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Sgt. Sara Balmes (bahl-MEHS') told The Associated Press that there was no immediate word on injuries, although scores of emergency vehicles surrounded the wreck.
The bus was taking 25 children to Newport Elementary School, which is about 45 miles north of Chicago.
The accident happened around 8 a.m. about a mile from the school, which has some 400 students in kindergarten through 5th grade.
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