At least six people, most of them children, have been killed in a suicide bombing near the Afghan capital, Kabul, officials say.

Three Italian aid workers were also wounded in the attack, which targeted a bridge they were inspecting, the Afghan interior ministry said.

The attack happened in the Paghman area, about 10km (six miles) north-west of Kabul.

It is the latest in a spate of suicide bombings by militants in Afghanistan.

Suicide attacks are a comparatively recent tool in the armory of the fighters there, but they are now far more frequent, says the BBC's David Loyn in Kabul.

There have been more than 130 suicide attacks in Afghanistan this year, by far the highest annual total since the Taleban were pushed from power six years ago.

They are mostly aimed at foreign forces, but aid projects are increasingly targeted, particularly where foreigners can be hit, our correspondent says.

PHOTO CAPTION

Kabul map

BBC