GHAZNI, Afghanistan, March 30 (Xinhua) -- At least four students were killed and 17 others including two teachers sustained injuries as a mortar mine struck a school in Andar district of eastern Ghazni province on Saturday, provincial government spokesman Aref Nuri said.

According to the official, the mortar mine struck Mullah Noh Baba school during class in Andar district on Saturday, which left four students dead on the spot and 17 others including two teachers wounded.

The mortar mine struck the school when fierce fighting was going on between government forces and the Taliban militants, according to villagers, saying no one knows which side fired the deadly mortar.

Civilians mostly bear the brunt of war in the war-battered Afghanistan as 3,804 civilians including 927 children were killed and more than 7,100 others injured in 2018, according to a report of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released here last month.