Child suicide bomber kills four in Afghanistan: Officials

Kabul: A 12-year-old suicide bomber killed four people and wounded a dozen in eastern Afghanistan today, 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.