Several children were killed or wounded in an explosion triggered by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in northern Faryab province of Afghanistan.

According to local security officials, the incident has taken place in the vicinity of Kohsar area in Sherin Tagab district.

The district criminal investigation department chief Ghulam Ali confirmed the incident and said at least seven children were killed and four others were wounded in the explosion.

However, another source says at least eight children have lost their lives in the explosion and six others have sustained injuries.

No individual or group including the Taliban militants has so far claimed responsibility behind the incident.

Taliban and other militants often use IED as the weapon of their choice to target the security forces and government but in majority of such attacks ordinary civilians are targeted, besides such attacks often claims the lives of the militants as well.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in its latest report stated that 1,692 civilians were killed in the first six months of 2018.

According to UNAMA, the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in attacks by Anti-Government Elements remained the leading cause of civilian casualties.

“The combined use of suicide and non-suicide IEDs caused nearly half of all civilian casualties. Continuing trends first documented last year by UNAMA, the majority of IED casualties were caused by suicide and complex attacks, which again were responsible for record high civilian casualties, resulting in 1,413 civilian casualties (427 deaths and 986 injured), a 22 per cent increase,” UNAMA said.