HERAT: At least 18 people were killed and three injured on Sunday when a minivan overturned in western Afghanistan, provincial officials said.

The accident in the Bala Murghab district of Badghis province was due to the driver’s “recklessness,” said provincial governor’s spokesman Mirwais Mirzakwal, who gave the casualty figure.

Sharafudeen Majeedi, chief of staff in the governor’s office, confirmed the death toll.

The injured were taken to hospital by local people while police and a rescue team retrieved the bodies.

Afghanistan has some of the world’s most dangerous roads and deadly accidents are common.

In April 2013 a bus hit a wrecked fuel tanker in the southern province of Kandahar, killing 45 people.

He says the accident happened early Sunday in Bala Murghab district. Badghis is one of Afghanistan’s poorest and least developed regions.

Poorly-maintained roads and reckless driving are major issues in Afghanistan. Road fatalities top 6,000 annually, according to the World Health Organization.

Meanwhile, officials say fierce fighting between government forces and Taliban insurgents in northern Afghanistan has forced thousands of people to flee their homes.

Meher Khuda Sabar, an official in the Refugee and Repatriation Ministry, said Sunday around 2,000 families have been displaced since the Taleban launched a surprise attack near the city of Kunduz nine days ago.

Sabar, who heads the ministry’s internal displacement department, says fighting in villages around Kunduz has forced people into the city.

The Afghan military has rushed reinforcements to Kunduz. NATO troops are present in an advisory and training capacity.

Brig. Gen. Wilson Shoffner, spokesman for NATO’s Resolute Support mission, says US jets have flown over insurgent positions near Kunduz but did not drop any munitions.