Afghan policemen stand near a burnt out minivan in Panjwayi district in Kandahar province on Friday. — AFP photo

Seven people were burnt to death in southern Afghanistan on Friday when a fuel tanker supplying a NATO base crashed and set their vehicle on fire, officials said.
The security chief of Panjwayi district and the Kandahar police chief said there was no insurgent activity at the time, and residents later pulled back from claims that the Taliban had attacked with rocket-propelled grenades.
A US soldier serving in NATO’s US-led International Security Assistance Force was charged this month with 17 counts of murder following a killing spree in the same district of Kandahar province on March 11.
Sardar Mohammad, Panjwayi’s security chief, said: ‘A fuel tanker supplying fuel for ISAF overturned and caught fire, and simultaneously a civilian minivan was passing nearby also caught fire.’
Seven people were killed and three others who were injured were taken to hospital, he said.