18 killed in N. Afghan avalanche: officials

　　FAIZABAD, Afghanistan, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- At least 18 people were killed and 10 others wounded after an avalanche hit a village in northern Afghan province of Badakhshan, the latest of a string of casualties caused by the natural disaster within the past days, authorities said on Thursday.

　　"Locals uncovered 18 bodies and rescued 10 wounded people after the avalanche struck parts of Tang Shewa village in Mahmay district at wee hours Thursday," Sayyed Abdullah Dehqan, head of the provincial disaster management authority, told Xinhua.

　　Our rescue teams were trying to transfer relief for hundred people who were stuck in open areas around the village in the mountainous province, he said.

　　The death toll of Afghanistan's recent avalanches triggered by heavy snowfall has risen to above 200, with dozens still trapped or being missing as a result of the disaster, local media quoted unnamed officials as saying earlier on the day.

　　Earlier on Thursday, police and locals rescued several hundred of commuters, who were stranded along main roads in central Bamyan and western Badghis provinces.