LEAD: Seven civilians, five NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Jan 6, 2012, 13:40 GMT

Kabul - Seven Afghan civilians, six of them children, and five soldiers from the NATO-led military coalition were killed Friday in separate incidents in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

The children and an elderly man were killed when a bomb exploded in a bin in southern Afghanistan, police said.

Four children were injured in the blast in Tirinkot city, the capital of volatile Uruzgan province, said Farid Ayel, the Uruzgan police spokesman.

'The bomb hidden in a trash bin went off Friday afternoon. A group of Afghan kids were playing in the area; six were killed along with an elder man,' said Ayel.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack.

Four foreign soldiers from the NATO-led coalition force were killed by a roadside bomb in neighbouring Kandahar province, officials said.

Shah Wali Kot district police chief, Haji Pacha, said the soldiers were on their way to meet villagers and elders in the district when their vehicle struck the bomb.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force confirmed the soldiers' deaths but did not give their nationality or say where they had been killed.

Another NATO soldier was killed in a clash with insurgents in the south of the country, the coalition said, without giving any details.

On Tuesday, at least 12 Afghans, including four girls, were killed in twin suicide bombings in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban.

Violence in Afghanistan continued this week, as the militants announced they had agreed to open an office in the Gulf state of Qatar to initiate talks with the international community.

A spokesman for the Taliban said they will continue to fight Afghan and international forces, even during talks.