The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Paghman

A suicide bomber blew himself up Saturday in a scenic Afghan town near Kabul, killing six people -- most of them children -- and wounding 12, officials said.

Four of the wounded were Italian engineers, they added.

Interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary earlier said six children were killed in the attack near a NATO-led unit in Paghman, about 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of Kabul, but later he said some adults were among the dead.

"Most of them were children, maybe three or four, the rest of them were adults," he told AFP. Four Italians and eight Afghan civilians were hurt, he said, with initial reports indicating the Italians were working on a bridge under construction in the area.

"It is not clear yet whether they are civilian engineers or army soldiers," Bashary said.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, which includes around 2,390 Italian soldiers, confirmed its forces were involved in the incident but would not provide the nationalities or details of what happened.

"We are aware of an incident. It was ISAF troops," an official in the media office said.

The blast was near the centre of the normally quiet town that sits at the foothills of the Paghman mountains and is a popular picnic spot for Afghans.

ISAF soldiers had blocked off the area, an AFP reporter said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. There have been more than 130 suicide attacks in Afghanistan this year, most of them blamed on Taliban militants waging an insurgency.

The deadliest was in early November and killed nearly 80 people, most of them school children. It is still not clear who was responsible for that blast.