Eight Afghan civilians were killed and two others wounded Saturday morning in a roadside bombing in Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province, sources said.

The deaths included five women and three men, the district deputy governor Juma Gul told Xinhua.

The blast occurred at around 10:00 am (local time) when an ill-fated minibus ran over an improvised explosive device (IED) in Nawroz locality of the district, Gul added.

All victims were passengers of the bus. The two injured were children, the source noted.

The official blamed the Taliban insurgent group for the attack but the Taliban has yet to make comments.

More than 1,560 civilians were killed and nearly 3,290 others wounded in conflicts and Taliban-led attacks in the first six months of 2014, according to a report released by the UN mission in the country on Wednesday.

The report said that the total child casualties increased 34 percent in the first six months of 2014 to 1,071, including 295 killed and 776 injured, while total woman casualties increased 24 percent to 440, including 148 killed and 292 injured.

Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban, is notorious for poppy growing.