A 12-year-old suicide bomber killed four people and wounded a dozen in east Afghanistan Sunday, while rebel clashes with police and NATO-led troops left five civilians and two police dead.
A 12-year-old suicide bomber killed four people and wounded a dozen in east Afghanistan Sunday, while rebel clashes with police and NATO-led troops left five civilians and two police dead, officials said.
The death toll from the day's fighting included at least three children besides the bomber, and dozens of civilians were wounded in firefights as violence appeared to escalate after the Taliban announced a spring offensive.
The boy -- thought to be one of the country's youngest-ever suicide attackers -- detonated an explosive vest in a marketplace in Paktika province near the Pakistan border, provincial spokesman Mukhlis Afghan said.
"The head of Shkin district council, Shair Nawaz, a woman and two other men were killed and 12 others were wounded," he said in a statement. The Afghan interior ministry had earlier put the death toll at three, with 11 wounded.
It was unclear how authorities established the age of the bomber, with the bodies of suicide attackers often difficult to identify.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the bombing on behalf of the group, which he said was behind all but one of Sunday's attacks. He told AFP they were part of the militants' fresh offensive, announced Saturday.
LOGAR
In Logar province militants ambushed a convoy of NATO troops, starting a firefight in Baraki Barak district in which three children were killed by Taliban fire, district governor Mohammad Rahim Amin said.
The dead children were aged between eight and 14 years old, Amin said, while a mother and child were also wounded. Taliban spokesman Mujahid denied that the group was involved in that attack.
GHAZNI
In neighboring Ghazni province, insurgents ambushed a police vehicle and sparked an exchange of fire, said deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Hussain.
"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 Sunday, he added. Five of the wounded were in critical condition.
The Taliban have announced their spring offensive would start on Sunday, 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.
The United Nations says that last year was the deadliest for civilians since the conflict began, with 2,777 killed -- a 15 percent increase on 2009.
Three-quarters of the deaths were caused by attacks linked to the insurgents, with improvised bombs the biggest killers. The devices are also the main cause of casualties to Afghan and international troops in the country.
About 132,000 international troops are stationed in Afghanistan, two-thirds of them from the United States.
A limited withdrawal of foreign occupation troops from seven relatively peaceful areas of the country is due to start in July, with Afghan forces set to take increasing responsibility for security as foreign troops pull back.
