Nine children killed in Afghan suicide attack: officials

Nine children killed in Afghan suicide attack: officials

By AFP

Published: June 3, 2013

Kabul - A suicide bomb attack targeting US and Afghan forces killed nine children heading home from school in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said.

One policeman was also killed and two coalition soldiers were among about 16 people wounded, Zalmai Uriakhail, the police chief of Paktia province, told AFP of the attack, which used an explosives-packed motorcycle.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said it had no information on casualties but was looking into the incident.

Uriakhail said the attack occurred in a market in Chamkani district at about 11:00 am as pupils were leaving school after morning lessons.

It came hours after a roadside bomb killed seven members of a family in Laghman province, also in east Afghanistan.

Four women, a child and a man died when their car hit a Taliban-planted improvised explosive device near the town of Mehtarlam, Sarhadi Zwak, the provincial administration spokesman, said in a statement.