Five Afghan people were killed as a mine planted by rebels struck their car in south Afghanistan on Monday, killing five commuters and wounding another, a local official said.

"The ill-fated men were moving on the highway between Uruzgan and Kandahar provinces when their car ran over a mine and as a result five commuters were killed and another suffered injuries," deputy police chief of Uruzgan province Mohammad Gulab told Xinhua.

Meantime, a local official who did not want to be named said that the victims were the employees of a leading telecommunication firm Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC).

No officials in the AWCC were immediately available to make comment.

(Xinhua News Agency February 16, 2009)