KABUL, Nov 26 (Reuters) - A landmine left over from a previous conflict killed four Afghan civilians travelling in a car southwest of the capital Kabul on Monday, a police official said.

After nearly more than 30 years of war, Afghanistan is littered with about 100,000 mines that kill or wound around 60 people every month, the United Nations estimates.

"It was an old landmine that exploded in the Char Asiab district this morning and killed four people," said Ali Shah Paktiawal, head of criminal investigation at Kabul police.

"It was not a roadside bomb or a recently planted mine," he said.

Most mines in Afghanistan were planted during the 1979-89 Soviet occupation, but some were planted during the later civil war. Taliban insurgents fighting to overthrow the pro-Western Afghan government also continue to plant some mines, but prefer to use roadside and suicide bombs. (Reporting by Hamid Shalizi, editing by David Fogarty)

AlertNet news is provided by