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At least six Afghan civilians were shot dead by armed men along a highway after militants intercepted three vehicles in the country's northern province of Kunduz on Tuesday, a local police said.
The militants intercepted three long-distance buses roughly at 4:30 a.m. local time in Kocha-e-Kazaqah area, some 4 km in southern outskirts of provincial capital Kunduz city, a provincial police official, Hijratullah Akbari, told Xinhua.
"The attackers kidnapped two dozen passengers and took them to nearby villages. They shot and killed six passengers," Akbari said, adding that the security forces launched an operation to locate and rescue the kidnapped people.
The buses were carrying some 180 travellers, including women and children, from Kunduz city to national capital of Kabul city, the official noted.
Taliban militant group has claimed the responsibility for the incident.
The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since early April when the militant group launched its annual offensive in different areas of the country.
Similarly, a local engineer was kidnapped by unknown armed men in neighboring Samangan province on Monday.
About 600 civilians were killed and more than 1,340 others wounded in conflict-related violence and Taliban-led militancy in first quarter of the year, according to UN mission in Afghanistan.
