KABUL, Afghanistan

At least 18 civilians, including women and children, were wounded when a landmine hit a passenger bus in Afghanistan’s eastern Parwan province on Sunday amid ensuing violence nationwide, confirmed officials.

According to the provincial police command, the incident took place during the evening rush hour when the bus was carrying civilians from the restive Ghorband district to the capital Kabul.

Abdul Khailil, head of the regional public hospital in Charikar city, capital of Parwan, told Anadolu Agency that three of the injured passengers were in critical condition.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Afghan officials have been pointing fingers at the Taliban for planting the landmines, a charge rejected by the insurgents.

According to UN estimates, there are some 120 mine-related civilian casualties in Afghanistan every month, while the International Campaign to Ban Landmines recorded 1,538 fatalities due to land mines in the war-weary country in 2019 alone.

The deadly spiral of violence has gripped Afghanistan since the announcement of an exit date of September 2021 for American troops by US President Joe Biden, which has led to mounting casualties on all sides.

At least 10 members of a landmine clearing team were killed and 16 others injured in the northern Baghlan province in an armed attack earlier in June.

On the heels of a stalled peace process, the Taliban on Sunday claimed to overrun five more districts in Maidan Wardak, Kandahar, and Takhar provinces.

The Afghan Defense Ministry on the other hand said they had killed nearly 198 Taliban insurgents in air and ground operations in various provinces during the past 24 hours.