At least 36 passengers including women and children have been killed when their bus collided with a fuel tanker in Afghanistan.

Gul Islam Seyal, spokesman for the provincial governor in Zabul, said that more than 25 others are seriously wounded with some in a critical condition.

The collision took place in Shar-e Safa district on Sunday, on the main highway linking the capital, Kabul, to the southern city of Kandahar.

Mr Seyal blamed both drivers for being reckless.

He said authorities will transfer critically injured patients to neighbouring Kandahar province.

In May, 52 people were killed on the same highway in Ghazni province in a collision involving two buses and a fuel tanker.