KABUL, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Unknown armed men abducted more than 150 laborers in Afghanistan's western Farah province Monday, provincial governor Rohul Amin said.

    "Some 153 labors of a local construction company were on way to their homes from Herat province when unknown militants intercepted their buses in Bakwa district of Farah province this morning and took them to unknown locations," Amin told Xinhua.

    The abductees, according to the official, were about to join their families for Eidul Feter or religious festival after working for the constructions activities with Afghan army Corps in Herat.

    No groups or individuals have claimed responsibility while some media said Taliban militants carried out the crime.

    In another incident in Farah's neighboring province Nimruz, nine Taliban insurgents were killed and three policemen wounded as they were in clash outside provincial capital Zaranj on the same day on Monday, provincial governor Ghulam Dastgir Azad told said.

    Conflicts and spiraling insurgency have claimed the lives of over 3,800 people with around 1,445 civilians so far this year in the war-torn country.