Roadside bomb blast kills 9 civilians in southern Afghanistan

Nine Afghan civilians were killed and five others wounded after their vehicle touched off a Taliban roadside bomb in southern Kandahar province on Wednesday, local police said.

"The incident occurred in Khoshak locality of Arghistan district at mid-day. The injured were shifted to a district hospital," Jamal Barakzai, provincial police spokesman, told Xinhua.

He blamed Taliban militants for planting the improvised explosive device (IED) on the dusty road in the province, 450 km south of the country's capital, Kabul.

The Afghan civilians continue to bear the brunt of armed conflicts as more than 3,400 civilians were killed and over 6,900 others injured in conflict-related incidents in 2019, according to the figures released by the UN mission in the country.

Out of the total casualties, more than 880 civilians were killed and over 3,450 others wounded in suicide and non-suicide IED explosions in 2019.