Bomb kills 9 Afghan children, 2 U.S. troops

KABUL -- A suicide bomber targeting U.S. troops outside an Afghan government office killed nine children walking home from school and two of the Americans on Monday, the latest sign that this year's fighting season could be one of the deadliest of the 12-year-old war.

An increase in casualties among Afghan civilians and security forces reinforces fears that foreign combat forces will be leaving behind a country in the throes of relentless violence when they withdraw next year.

An Afghan official insisted that despite the carnage, insurgents have made no advances.

With peace talks apparently dead in the water, the Taliban and other militants have fiercely stepped up attacks in recent weeks, unleashing multiple bombings, sieges of international aid groups' compounds and armed attacks on police posts nationwide, and testing the ability of Afghan soldiers and police to hold their ground by themselves.

"The level of violence this year is the highest it has been since the war started in 2001," said Thomas Ruttig of the Afghan Analysts Network, who conducted a detailed study of the first two months of the annual Taliban spring offensive. His analysis of attacks over two months puts the violence on par with 2011, the deadliest year of the war up to now.

Afghan officials say the insurgents have won no new territory or advantage, beyond causing mayhem. But the death toll has soared. In the past two weeks alone, violence has killed 125 Afghan civilians and injured 287, a 24 percent increase in casualties from the same period last year, the United Nations' mission said.

Monday's civilian death toll reached 16 when a family in another eastern province drove their vehicle over a roadside bomb, killing all seven people inside.

The UN blamed militant attacks for 84 percent of the recent civilian casualties, saying that tactics such as suicide bombings near schools and planting roadside bombs around the country may amount to war crimes.