At least 20 passengers were kidnapped after gunmen intercepted buses along a highway in Afghanistan's southern Zabul province, sources said.

"The incident took place in Noorak locality of Shahjoy district at around 5:00 a.m. (local time) after unknown armed men stopped three passenger buses. The gunmen took 20 people of the buses to unknown location," a security source told Xinhua anonymously.

Majority of the abductees were from Hazara ethnic minority, the source said.

Mirwais Noorzai, the provincial police chief, confirmed the incident, saying the security forces had launched a search operation to locate and rescue the victims.

"An investigation has been launched into the incident and police has carried out a search operation at the area shortly after the kidnapping incident took place," Noorzai told Xinhua.

No group or militant organization has claimed the responsibility for the incident yet, however, local residents blamed militants loyal to Islamic State (IS) or Daesh for the abduction.

Earlier this month, seven kidnapped civilians were killed by militants while seven other people were rescued from kidnappers' clutch in the same province.

Nearly 1,600 civilians were killed and more than 3,300 others wounded in conflicts and Taliban-led attacks in the first half of the year, according to UN mission figures. Enditem

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