Eight civilians were killed Wednesday in a roadside bombing in southern Afghan Helmand province, a spokesman for provincial government said.

"The bloody incident occurred at about 1:00 p.m. local time Wednesday when a minibus touched off a roadside bomb in Rigi area of Marjah district triggering a powerful blast that left all eight civilians aboard dead on the spot," spokesman Daud Ahmadi told Xinhua.

Ahmadi blamed Taliban insurgents for the attack.

However, the Taliban insurgents, who have been largely relying on roadside bombing and suicide attacks in the fighting Afghan security force and NATO-led troops based in Afghanistan, have yet to make comments.

The civilian casualties has increased for a fifth successive year as a total of 3,021 Afghan civilians were killed in 2011, an eight percent rise compared to 2010, according to a United Nations annual report released in Kabul on Feb. 4.