Afghan National Security Forces found and defused 76 bombs in the southern province of Kandahar, the provincial government said in a statement on Monday.

"The ANSF specialists discovered and neutralized 76 rounds of different mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Arghandab, Maiwand, Zharay and Panjwai districts recently," the statement said.

The Taliban insurgent group has largely been using the home- made IEDs to launch suicide and roadside bomb attacks against Afghan troops and the NATO-led coalition forces but the lethal weapons also inflict casualties on civilians.

Kandahar province is notorious for growing poppy and militancy.

About 2,900 civilians were killed and nearly 5,700 wounded in conflicts and Taliban-led attacks in the war-torn country last year, according to the UN mission in Afghanistan.