At least seven Afghan civilians were injured Thursday as a suicide bombing hit a foreign troops' convoy in Maiwand district of southern Kandahar province, said a provincial source.

"An insurgent set off an explosive-packed car at a Maiwand district bazaar as a NATO-led coalition force convoy was passing by the area. Seven Afghan civilians were wounded in the blast," a provincial police spokesman Zia Durani told Xinhua.

The injured were shifted to a hospital in the district with no life-threatening wounds, the spokesman added.

Meantime, a security official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that "four foreign soldiers and 25 Afghan civilians were wounded in the blast which took place at the Keshk-e-Nakhod marketplace at around 1:00 pm (local time) in Maiwand district, western of provincial capital Kandahar city".

No group has claimed responsibility yet for the attack, but Taliban insurgents routinely claim responsibility for such attacks.

Kandahar is notorious for growing poppy and is a known Taliban hotbed.

About 1,320 civilians were killed and 2,533 injured in conflict- related violence in the first half of the year in the country, according to a UN report issued late in July.

In neighboring Zabul province, eight Taliban insurgent members were killed in an ongoing cleanup operation conducted by the Afghan army and the coalition forces in Arghandab district, district governor Momand Nasratyar told Xinhua.

The Taliban has yet to make comments.