Bus crash in Afghanistan kills 79 people returning from Iran

A bus crash in northwestern Afghanistan killed at least 79 people returning from Iran, including 19 children, an official said.

Two people were also injured in the crash, Interior Ministry spokesperson Abdul Mateen Qani told The Associated Press.

Tolo News, citing the official, said the crashed happened around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in Herat province. The bus collided with a truck and a motorbike, causing a massive fire that killed many on the spot, the outlet reported.

Nearly 1.8 million Afghans have been forcibly returned from Iran in the past few months. A further 184,459 were sent back from Pakistan and more than 5,000 were deported from Turkey since the beginning of the year. Additionally, nearly 10,000 Afghan prisoners have been repatriated, mostly from Pakistan.

The Taliban criticized neighboring countries in July for the mass expulsion of Afghans, as Iran and Pakistan expel foreigners who they say are living there illegally. The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation said some 6 million Afghan refugees remain overseas.

Advocacy group Save the Children called on countries to ensure that returns to Afghanistan were safe and noted that forced returns of children risked further harm.

“This horrific tragedy is a stark reminder of the deadly risks hundreds of thousands of Afghan children face on their journeys from Iran," a group official, Samira Sayed Rahman, said in a statement.

Traffic accidents are common in Afghanistan, mainly due to poor road conditions and driver carelessness.

A medic from the Taliban army collects items at the site where a burned-out bus collided with a truck and a motorbike Tuesday evening, causing a massive fire and killing at least 70 people, including children, most of them Afghans returning from Iran, in western Herat province, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Omid Haqjoo)

A man looks at a burned-out bus that collided with a truck and a motorbike Tuesday evening, causing a massive fire and killing at least 70 people, including children, most of them Afghans returning from Iran, in western Herat province, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Omid Haqjoo)

A man looks at a burned-out bus that collided with a truck and a motorbike Tuesday evening, causing a massive fire and killing at least 70 people, including children, most of them Afghans returning from Iran, in western Herat province, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Omid Haqjoo)

People and soldiers from the Taliban army inspect a burned-out bus that collided with a truck and a motorbike Tuesday evening, causing a massive fire and killing at least 70 people, including children, most of them Afghans returning from Iran, in western Herat province, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Omid Haqjoo)

People inspect a burned-out bus that collided with a truck and a motorbike Tuesday evening, causing a massive fire and killing at least 70 people, including children, most of them Afghans returning from Iran, in western Herat province, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Omid Haqjoo)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Justice has expanded its review of documents related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to 5.2 million as it also increases the number of attorneys trying to comply with a law mandating release of the files, according to a person briefed on a letter sent to U.S. Attorneys.

The figure is the latest estimate in the expanding review of case files on Epstein and his longtime girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell that has run more than a week past a deadline set in law by Congress.

The Justice Department has more than 400 attorneys assigned to the review, but does not expect to release more documents until Jan. 20 or 21, according to the person briefed on the letter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it.

The expanding scope of the disclosure and the additional legal firepower committed to it showed how the Epstein file investigation will continue to occupy significant attention in Congress and the White House, almost ensuring that it remains a potent political force as the new year rolls toward midterm elections.

The White House did not dispute the figures laid out in the email, and pointed to a statement from Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, who said the administration’s review was an “all-hands-on-deck approach.”

Blanche said Wednesday that lawyers from the Justice Department in Washington, the FBI, the Southern District of Florida, and the Southern District of New York are working “around the clock” to review the files. The additional documents and lawyers related to the case were first reported by The New York Times.

“We’re asking as many lawyers as possible to commit their time to review the documents that remain,” Blanche said. “Required redactions to protect victims take time, but they will not stop these materials from being released.”

Still, Attorney General Pam Bondi is facing pressure from Congress after the Justice Department's rollout of information has lagged behind the Dec. 19 deadline to release the information.

“Should Attorney General Pam Bondi be impeached?” Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who helped lead the effort to pass the law mandating the document release, asked on social media this week.

Democrats also are reviewing their legal options as they continue to seize on an issue that has caused cracks in the Republican Party and, at times, flummoxed President Donald Trump's administration.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on social media that the latest figures from the Department of Justice “shows Bondi, Blanche, and others at the DOJ have been lying to the American people about the Epstein files since day one” and pointed out that the documents released so far represented a fraction of the total.

A late January release of documents would put the Department of Justice more than a month behind the deadline set in law, but some key lawmakers appeared willing to let the process play out before trying to take direct action against the Trump administration.

Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who also led the effort to pass the law requiring the release, told The Associated Press that the Justice Department's expanding review showed that the law is working.

“We are willing to give DOJ a few extra weeks to comply, provided they release the survivors’ statements to the FBI naming the other rich and powerful men who abused them or covered up and the prosecution memos about charges that were dropped against Epstein and co-conspirators,” he said. “When all the information comes out, this will shock the conscience of the nation.”

Massie has also said that he wants to see the release of statements that victims gave to the FBI. He has claimed that those could disclose the names of influential business figures and political donors who were involved or complicit in Epstein's abuse.

The pair has also argued that the expanding disclosure is evidence that more people were involved besides Epstein and Maxwell.

The Trump administration has already struggled to move past the Epstein files for the better part of last year. While it's not clear what else will be shown in the files, it will almost certainly give Democrats continued fodder to continue to seize on the issue.

So far, Democrats, even though they are in the minority, have forced Congress to act on an issue that has caused splits in Trump's political base.

A tranche of documents released just before Christmas showed that Trump flew on Epstein's private jet in the 1990s, when they had a friendship before a falling out. But the documents revealed little new information about their relationship. The initial release of documents also showed several photos of former President Bill Clinton with women whose faces were blacked out.

Republicans on the House Oversight Committee have honed in on the connections to Clinton and are seeking to force him and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to appear for a deposition in January.

Still, Democrats are trying to show that the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files shows that it cannot be trusted and is more concerned about the welfare of the rich and famous than working-class voters.

“Unlike the President, we don’t care who’s in the files,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the oversight panel, on social media. “Anyone that’s involved in the abuse of women and girls should be held accountable.”

An email that was included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files is photographed Monday, Dec. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)

FILE - Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks during an event with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House, Oct. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell, file)