An eight-year-old girl has been
killed after insurgents used her in a bomb attack on police in southern
Afghanistan, the government has said.
The interior ministry said
insurgents gave the girl a package and told her to take it to a police vehicle,
detonating it as she approached.
No-one else was killed in the
explosion, in Uruzgan province.
The incident came a day after an
attack on a hospital which killed at least 38 people in the east of the
country.
Dozens were injured. Elderly people,
pregnant women and children were said to be among the casualties.
'No respect'
A statement by the ministry
described the Uruzgan incident as a "crime and a shameful act".
The area where the alleged incident
happened is very remote, and it was not possible to independently verify the
reports.
"The child, pure-hearted and in
good faith, took the bag and moved towards the police vehicle," it said.
"As she got close to the police
vehicle, the enemy detonated the bomb by remote control, killing the innocent
child."
The governor of Char Cheno district,
where the attack took place, told the BBC the girl was from the nearest
village.
She was told nothing would happen to
her, he said, adding that the perpetrators had "no boundary, no respect
for anything".
Correspondents say insurgents have
recruited both adult women and recently male children to carry out suicide
attacks, though the Taliban denies recruiting children.
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