Ten Afghan girls between the ages of nine and 11 were killed and two others were injured on Monday when a landmine exploded in Chaprehar district of Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan, the provincial governor's office said in a statement.

"The girls were gathering firewood, when the landmine exploded," the statement said.

Nobody claimed responsibility for the explosion but one spokesperson said it may have been an accident.

Meanwhile, a car bomb exploded Monday at a compound owned by a US logistics company under contract to the Afghan army, killing at least one person and wounding 15, police said.

Afghanistan's Islamist Taliban movement claimed responsibility for the bombing.

"A suicide car bomber attacked an important American company which is involved in security," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.

hc/pfd (Reuters, AFP, dpa)