At least seven children were killed and three others were wounded on Monday by a roadside bomb blast in southeastern Paktika province, local officials said.

The children, all 6 to 10 years old, and from the same extended family, were killed while playing near a road in the Khairkot District, said spokesman of the provincial Governor Mukhlis Afghan.

The victims were taken to a nearby hospital for emergency care.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bomb.

Insurgents routinely plant explosives along well-traveled roads, purportedly targeting Afghan and NATO troops. But the bombs are indiscriminate and often kill civilians.

According to the most recent United Nations civilian casualty report, issued in July, 74 percent of civilian casualties in Afghanistan in the first half of 2013 were caused by insurgents. The majority of those were said to have been caused by roadside bombs.