A suicide bomb on the outskirts of the Afghan capital Kabul has killed six schoolchildren and wounded three Italians working on an aid project building a bridge, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.

Afghan police say a suicide bomber targeting a provincial governor killed one of the official's sons and six of his bodyguards.

A suicide bomber rammed a motorbike into a Pakistani air force bus, killing eight personnel, while troops killed up to 70 Islamic militants in a north-western region, officials said.

Iraqi police say two suicide car bombs have exploded in a northern Iraqi town, killing at least 19 people and wounding about 30 others. One of Tuesday's blasts in Baiji happened outside the home of a police chief, who survived the attack.

Officials say a suicide bomber killed at least 11 people and wounded seven others in Kabul today. The bomber blew himself up on a bus carrying police to work.

At least 15 people, including four police officers, were killed and more than 20 injured in a suicide explosion in the town of Bannu in northwest Pakistan on Monday, police said. At least seven of the injured are in a critical condition.

A suicide car bomber killed at least eight people and wounded about 10 others in an attack against a tribal leader near the town of Sinjar. The tribal leader, Sheikh Kanan al-Juharimur, was wounded.

A suicide bomber walked into a local government office in southern Afghanistan Monday and blew himself up, killing eight people.

At least 10 Afghan civilians were killed today in an attack near a U.S.-led military base, while a suicide bomber killed two Afghan soldiers in another strike near the Kabul airport.

A new study by the Pew Research Center in Washington has revealed that Muslims around the world are increasingly rejecting suicide bombings and other forms of violence against civilian targets in the name of Islam.

The UN Security Council has urged all forces in Afghanistan to do everything they can to avoid civilian deaths. The 15-member council also condemned Taliban and Al-Qaeda insurgents for killing innocent Afghans in suicide bombings and using civilians as "human shields" during battles.

At least 18 Pakistani soldiers have been killed by a suicide car bomber in the country's volatile North Waziristan tribal region near the border with Afghanistan.