Kabul, 30 October (AKI) - A roadside bomb killed at least eight civilians in eastern Afghanistan on Friday as their vehicle drove by in the district of Khogyani in Nangarhar province, according to officials. The dead included a woman and had been on their way to a local market, the officials said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the Taliban frequently plant explosives on main roads across the country. Nangarhar borders northwest Pakistan and is relatively secure compared with other Afghan provinces such as Paktika and Kandahar.

More than 1,500 civilians have been killed by violence in Afghanistan so far this year, the United Nations said last month. Casualties increased by nearly 26 percent during the first half of this year compared with the same period last year, according to the United Nations.

United States president Barack Obama was due on Friday to hold a meeting with top army chiefs on ongoing operations in the South Asia region. The top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, has asked the Obama administration for more combat, training and support troops, with several options including one for 40,000 more soldiers.

Obama has spent weeks pondering McChrystal's request, which came amid an increasingly violent Taliban-led insurgency. A record number of US soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan this month - 56 - the highest since since the invasion which toppled the Taliban in 2001.