'Road blast kills six Afghan civilians'

A roadside bomb struck a minibus in troubled southern Afghanistan, killing five Afghan men and a teenager, a district governor said, blaming Taliban insurgents.

A roadside bomb struck a minibus in troubled southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing five Afghan men and a teenager, a district governor said, blaming Taliban insurgents.

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Another two people were wounded in the blast in the southern province of Zabul, said Naw Bahar governor Zarif Khan.

"Six civilians were killed and two were wounded," Khan said. The dead were all male and one was a 15-year-old boy, he said.

Khan blamed the attack on the "enemies of peace" -- a reference to Taliban insurgents who regularly plant roadside bombs for Afghan and international troops who are trying to put down extremist violence.

Southern Afghanistan sees some of the worst of an insurgency launched by the extremist Taliban, who were in government from 1996 until 2001, when they were removed in a US-led invasion.