A special freight train loaded with more than 1,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid materials and daily necessities donated by China departed for Afghanistan on Saturday afternoon.

The train is expected to reach its final destination in around 12 days. Carrying 50 containers, the freight train left China via Horgos Port in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The supplies include cotton-padded clothes, cotton shoes, blankets, milk tea powder as well as naan, a type of leavened flatbread and a staple of Xinjiang residents, all are urgently needed by Afghan people during the winter.

So far, China's Xinjiang, which borders Afghanistan, has launched three such special freight trains to transport humanitarian aid materials to Afghanistan.

Since the end of June, more than 2,600 tonnes of humanitarian aid materials and daily necessities have been delivered to Afghanistan via the special freight train service.