Six Red Cross workers were killed and two others were missing in northern Afghanistan, the international charity said Wednesday, underscoring the growing dangers faced by aid workers in the war-battered country.

“We are shocked and devastated,” a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross told AFP, without offering any details on the incident in Jowzjan province.

Ahmad Ramin Ayaz, the group's Kabul-based spokesman, said the attack took place in the northern Jowzjan province.

Rahmatullah Turkistani, the chief of the provincial police, confirmed the attack, saying it took place 35 kilometers west of the provincial capital, Shibirghan.

No one immediately claimed the attack, but Turkistani said fighters loyal to the militant Islamic State (IS) group have a presence in the area. The Taliban denied involvement.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a suicide bomber detonated his payload after being stopped outside a district headquarters in the eastern Paktia province, killing two civilians and wounding a policeman, said Abdullah Asrat, the spokesman for the provincial governor.

No one claimed responsibility, but the Taliban frequently attack government targets.

On Tuesday, a suicide bomber struck at the entrance to the Afghan Supreme Court in the capital, Kabul, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 40.