Roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan kills 2 civilians, wounds 7

Two civilians were killed while seven others wounded when a bus ran over a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan's province of Kandahar overnight Saturday, police said on Sunday.

"The incident took place along a highway in Maiwand district at around midnight. The killed and the injured were shifted to a Kandahar city hospital by police," district police chief Sultan Mohammad told Xinhua.

The bus, which was carrying nearly 45 people, was damaged by the blast.

The province is notorious for poppy growing and Taliban-led militancy.

Nearly 1,600 civilians were killed and more than 3,300 others wounded in conflicts and attacks in the first half of the year, according to UN mission figures released earlier this week.