Afghan Taliban Uses Child Bomber at Start of Spring Offensive

[thundley4]

Afghan officials say a 12-year-old suicide bomber killed four people and wounded 12 others Sunday in eastern Paktika province, on the first day of the Taliban's promised spring offensive.   

NATO said the bomber detonated his suicide vest in a bazaar full of civilians, a day after the Taliban publicly promised to pay "strict attention" to the safety of civilians in its spring offensive.  The attack killed the head of a district council in the Shakeen area and three other people. 

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the suicide bombing.  The NATO mission in Afghanistan called it a "cowardly attack that shows the impotence of the Taliban."

In other violence Sunday, insurgents ambushed a police vehicle in neighboring Ghazni province, triggering fighting in which two policemen and two civilians died.  Also in Ghazni, a bomb planted on a bicycle near the provincial police headquarters wounded 13 people.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Deadly-Attacks-Hit-Afghanistan--121048589.html