KABUL — At least 17 people were killed in a mining accident in northern Afghanistan, local officials said Thursday.The mine in Darah Sof Balla district in Samangan province collapsed Wednesday, while illegal mining was going on, according to Seddiq Azizi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. "After a rescue operation, 14 bodies were retrieved but three are still trapped there," he said. Azizi said all the workers were local residents. A local landowner named as Safi Karbalayee had been arrested in connection with the incident, he said. The government has banned mining in the area. Twenty miners were killed in a similar incident in Samangan last year.