Taliban radio: Land mine explosions kill 25 people

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Two land mines exploded in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 25 people, Taliban-run radio reported Sunday.

The land mines destroyed a truck and a jeep in northern Takhar province on Saturday, some 180 miles north of the Afghan capital of Kabul, the radio said.

Several women and children were among the dead, it said, offering no other details.

The Taliban, the hard-line religious militia which rules more than 95 percent of Afghanistan, accused their northern-based opposition of planting the land mines.

''After suffering a string of defeats, the opposition soldiers are planting land mines near civilian areas, resulting in the death of so many innocent people,'' the radio said.

There was no immediate comment from the opposition, which is struggling hard to stop the Taliban from capturing the entire country.

Afghanistan, devastated by two decades of civil war, is one of world's most heavily mined countries. Every year hundreds of people are killed or maimed by land mines.