KABUL – A 12-year-old suicide bomber killed four people and
wounded a dozen in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, 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, on the border with Pakistan, 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.
Civilians are increasingly getting caught up in the violence that has
blighted Afghanistan since a US-led invasion in 2001 ousted the
Taliban, 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 percent increase on
2009.
Three-quarters of the deaths were caused by attacks linked to the
insurgents, with improvised bombs the biggest killers, taking the lives
of 1,141 people.
There has been a recent spike in suicide bombings -- a key Taliban
tactic -- in Afghanistan along with IEDs or home made bombs which are
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, battling the Taliban and
other insurgents.
A limited withdrawal of foreign troops from seven relatively peaceful areas of the country is due to start in July.
Afghan forces are set to take increasing responsibility for security as foreign troops pull back.
The worst fighting in Afghanistan usually comes in spring and summer.
The Taliban insurgents have announced their spring offensive is to
start on Sunday. AFP
