Suicide bomb kills Afghan children

By Yousuf Azimy

KABUL (Reuters) - Suicide bombers attacked foreign troops in central and southern Afghanistan on Friday, killing five children and a Dutch soldier in a day of renewed bloodshed.

Another foreign soldier, belonging to a U.S.-led coalition force, also died in combat in eastern Paktika province on Friday as violence flared in areas where Taliban guerrillas were waging an insurgency against the government and its foreign allies.

In the first attack, a suicide bomber rammed his car into a convoy of NATO troops in Tirin Kot, capital of the central province of Uruzgan, killing five Afghan children playing nearby, said a provincial government official, Mohammad Nabi.

Four adult civilians were also killed and seven wounded, local police chief Mohammad Qasim added.

The Dutch Defence Ministry said the attack killed a 20-year-old from the Dutch Army's 42nd Battalion and wounded three other Dutch troops.

The Netherlands has about 1,700 troops in Uruzgan as part of a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

"This is another example of how the tactics of the enemies of peace and stability are tearing apart the lives of Afghans and preventing the international community from bringing reconstruction and development in areas that desperately need our assistance," ISAF spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Maria Carl said.

A second suicide bomber attacked a foreign troop convoy in the southern Kandahar city, wounding at least five civilians, a police official said. A man with explosives strapped to his body approached the convoy and blew himself up, an eyewitness added.