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Add an EventChildren killed in Afghan blast
Schoolchildren were caught in the blast as they left classes
Another 30 people were injured, some seriously, in the attack on a market place in Dehrawood in Uruzgan province, where Taleban militants are active.
The bomber blew himself up near a Nato-led convoy, police said.
The Nato-led international force (Isaf) said seven of its soldiers were among the injured.
If the death toll is confirmed, this would be the third deadliest bomb attack in Afghanistan this year, says the BBC's Charles Haviland in Kabul.
Many children were caught in the explosion as they were leaving classes near a crowded bazaar in Dehrawood.
A Nato spokesman told the BBC he believed more than a dozen people had been killed and that Isaf troops were among the wounded.
The wounded were all being treated at an Isaf medical centre. Some of them were said to be in a serious condition.
Isaf had earlier said that at least six people had been killed in the attack.
The Nato spokesman said the attack showed a "wanton disregard" for the safety of civilians. The bombing contradicted recent public calls by insurgents that civilian casualties should be avoided, he said.
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Isaf troops face an increasing number
of suicide attacks [AFP]
A suicide car bomb, targeting a Nato patrol in a crowded marketplace in southern Afghanistan, has killed 17 people and wounded 30, officials have said. The attack on Tuesday targeted troops patrolling on foot through a bazaar, said general Qassim Khan, the provincial police chief. > At least six civilians were killed in the attack and 13 others, including children, were wounded. Seven soldiers from the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) were among those wounded. > Lieutenant-colonel Mike Smith, the Isaf spokesman in the south of the country, said: "This is an indiscriminate use of a Taliban extremist bomb which has killed and injured both civilians and soldiers."
The attack came at the southern tip of Uruzgan province, near the border with Helmand and <?xml:namespace prefix = "st1" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Kandahar, among the most violent areas in Afghanistan and the heart of the poppy-growing region.<?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Taliban fighters have stepped up the number of suicide attacks against the nearly 50,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan in 2007 after suffering heavy casualties in conventional attacks.
Also on Tuesday, the Taliban claimed responsibility for shooting down an Isaf helicopter
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