KABUL — A suicide bomber targeting US troops near a government office on Monday killed nine children walking home from school and two of the Americans, 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 raises fears that foreign forces will be leaving behind a country in the throes of relentless violence when they withdraw next year.
With peace talks apparently stalled, the Taliban and other militants have stepped up attacks in recent weeks — with multiple bombings, sieges of international aid groups’ compounds, and armed attacks on police posts nationwide — testing the ability of Afghan soldiers and police to hold their ground by themselves.
Afghan officials say the insurgents have won no new territory or advantage, beyond causing mayhem. But 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 UN mission said.
Monday’s civilian death toll reached 16 when a family in another eastern province drove over a roadside bomb, killing all seven people inside.
The United Nations blamed militant attacks for 84 percent of the recent civilian casualties, saying tactics like suicide attacks near schools may amount to war crimes.
The US soldiers killed were not identified.