Fariba Ahmadi Kakar, who represents Kandahar province, is the first lawmaker to be abducted since Taliban's fall from power

A female member of the Afghan parliament has been kidnapped by insurgents in a restive province south of Kabul.

Fariba Ahmadi Kakar, a lawmaker who represents Kandahar province in parliament, is the latest prominent woman targeted by the insurgency. She was heading home to celebrate the Eid festival that marks the end of Ramadan when she was seized from her car, local officials said.

The Taliban are reportedly demanding the release of several prisoners in exchange for their captive, said Hamida Gulistan, a member of the provincial council in Ghazni, an increasingly violent province south-west of Kabul where the kidnapping took place.

"She was abducted on her own," Gulistan said, dismissing earlier reports that several children were also kidnapped and either freed by commandos or released by the Taliban. Kakar was reportedly abducted at the weekend, but it was unclear exactly when.

Kidnapping in Afghanistan is a growing problem, with wealthy or prominent people or their relatives taken, sometimes by criminal gangs who demand ransoms or sell them on to insurgents, or sometimes directly by the Taliban or their allies.

The provincial governor and his intelligence chief declined to speak to journalists about the incident, which came shortly after gunmen ambushed the car of another senior female politician travelling through Ghazni on her way home for the Eid holiday.

The eight-year-old daughter and the driver of senator Rouh Gul Khairzad died in the attack, although she and other relatives survived. Last month, unknown gunmen shot dead the most senior policewoman in Helmand province as she travelled to work on the back of a motorbike.

Civilian casualties soared by about a quarter in the first half of this year, with women and children particularly badly affected by spreading violence, according to a UN report.

Many died on the country's increasingly violent roads. But with air travel limited to just a few cities and tickets too expensive for many Afghans, many people have no choice but to risk their lives if they want to travel home to see family and friends, or visit the capital.

The Taliban attack government and military convoys and stop cars at ad-hoc checkpoints to search for employees of the administration or foreign forces, who they have declared legitimate targets, although they are considered civilians under international law.

The main highway between Kabul and Kandahar, a vital commercial and civilian transport artery, has been a focus of attacks. Last week, the bodies of eight people abducted from a bus were found with gunshots to their heads on the side of the highway in Ghazni, the Associated Press reported.

On Wednesday, President Hamid Karzai condemned the killings on the road, although he has not commented on Kakar's disappearance. She is the first lawmaker abducted by insurgents since the Taliban's fall from power, although several have been killed.

It was not clear if Kakar was targeted because she was a high-profile woman, or because of her position as a senior politician. She is one of 69 female representatives in the 249-seat lower house of parliament, most of whom secured their seats through a quota system designed to ensure women have a voice there.

Shortly after her kidnapping, a roadside bomb exploded under the car of another member of parliament on a road north of Kabul, killing two of his bodyguards and injuring two others. Abdul Shah Ramazan, MP for Balkh province and apparent target of the attack, was not harmed, the Khaama Press news agency reported.