Up to seven civilians were killed and four were wounded Monday when a roadside bombing went off in southern province of Zaubl, the Interior Ministry confirmed in a statement.

"An anti-vehicle mine which was placed by the Taliban hit a trailer tractor vehicle in Malizai area in Souri district of Zabul province at about 07:00 a.m. Monday. As a result seven civilians were killed and four other civilians were wounded," the statement said.

The wounded were taken to hospital by Afghan National Police ( ANP), the statement added.

The Taliban insurgent group, fighting an insurgency of more than one decade, has yet to make comments.

Taliban often attack Afghan and NATO-led forces with roadside bombs and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) but the lethal weapons also inflict casualties on civilians.

A total of 2,754 civilians were killed and 4,805 injured in conflict-related violence in 2012, a 12 percent drop in overall civilian casualties compared with 2011, according to a UN report released in February in Kabul.

The UN report attributed 81 percent of the civilian deaths to the attacks of Taliban insurgents and other armed groups opposing the Afghan government, another eight percent of the deaths were attributed to Afghan and NATO-led forces and 11 percent were unattributed.