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At least 30 people have been killed as a bus collided with an oil tanker and burst into flames in Afghanistan's Kandahar province, officials say.

The accident took place on the key Kabul-Kandahar highway in the Maiwand district.

Women and children are among the dead and officials say that most bodies are badly burned.

Accidents are common in Afghanistan which has some of the most dangerous roads in the world.

One report suggested the tanker had been left on the road having been attacked by the Taliban, but it is unclear when such an attack might have taken place and if the tanker was still burning when the bus crashed into it.

Last September at least 50 people were killed after a bus and a fuel tanker collided in the eastern Afghan province of Ghazni.