Police say Taliban militants have pulled five Afghan civilians off a bus in eastern Afghanistan and shot them dead.

Ghazni province deputy police chief Mohammad Hussain says the insurgents stopped the bus on Sunday as it was driving in Andar district on the main road headed south to Kandahar city.

He says they pulled out five people and killed them on the spot. Police recovered the bodies today from the roadside.

Hussain says it is not yet clear if the victims were specifically targeted by the insurgents.