Child suicide bomber kills four in Afghanistan

A 12-year-old suicide bomber killed four people and wounded a dozen in eastern Afghanistan yesterday, while a Taliban clash with police left two civilians and two police dead, officials said.

The boy – thought to be one of the country’s youngest-ever suicide attackers – detonated a vest packed with explosives in a marketplace in Paktika province near the Pakistan border, provincial spokesman Mukhlis Afghan said in a statement.

“The head of Shkin district council, Shair Nawaz, a woman and two other men were killed and 12 others were wounded,” the statement said. The Afghan interior ministry had earlier put the death toll at three, with 11 wounded.

Taliban militants in neighbouring Ghazni province meanwhile ambushed a police vehicle and sparked an exchange of fire, deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Hussain said.

“Two policemen and two civilians including a woman were killed,” Hussain said.

Another 13 civilians were wounded when a bomb attached to a bicycle parked in front of Ghazni police headquarters exploded yesterday, he added.

Five of the wounded were in critical condition, said the head of Ghazni hospital, Mohammad Ismail Ibrahimzada.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks but Hussain blamed Taliban insurgents.

The Taliban have announced their spring offensive would start Sunday (yesterday), with spring and summer the traditional fighting season in the country.

Civilians are increasingly getting caught up in the violence that has blighted Afghanistan since a US-led invasion in 2001 ousted the Taliban from power, triggering an insurgency whose intensity has increased in recent years.

Three people rammed an explosives-laden truck into a privately-run construction site in Paktika province in March, killing 24 workers and wounding 59 others.

The United Nations says that last year was the deadliest for civilians since the conflict began, with 2,777 killed – a 15 per cent increase on 2009.

Three-quarters of the deaths were caused by attacks linked to the insurgents, with improvised bombs the biggest killers. They are also the main cause of casualties to Afghan and international troops in the country.