Fifteen civilians, including eight children, were killed on Wednesday when their vehicle hit a land mine in northern Afghanistan, a government official said. “At around 5:00 pm this evening a mine planted by the Taliban hit a civilian car… killing 15 civilians and wounding two more,” said Nasrat Rahimi, an interior ministry spokesman. Six women and a man were also among those killed in the blast, in Kunduz province, on the country’s northern border with Tajikistan, Rahimi said. There are regular clashes in the region between the Taliban insurgents and US -backed Afghan forces. Insurgents attacked the provincial capital, also called Kunduz, in early September, but failed to capture it. The Taliban however briefly seized the city in September 2015. The blast comes during what has been a period of relative and uneasy calm, where the rate of large-scale attacks has dropped in recent weeks. The comparative lull followed a blood-stained presidential campaign season that ended with a general election on September 28.