Kabul ? Bombs killed a dozen people, including a British soldier and five children, in southern Afghanistan, authorities said Friday, as U.S. and British officials consider sending more troops to combat the growing Taliban insurgency.

The five children were among 11 people who died Friday when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle in the Spin Boldak district of southern Kandahar province near the border with Pakistan, according to police Gen. Saifullah Hakim.

The victims, all members of an extended family, were traveling to a local Muslim religious shrine for Friday prayer services, Hakim said.

Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban, and Hakim blamed the Islamic militants who plant bombs along roads in the area to target Afghan and foreign troops for Friday’s blast.

“Innocent civilians are dying as a result,” he said.

In London, the British Ministry of Defense announced that a British soldier was killed Thursday when a bomb exploded near a foot patrol in Gereshk, an industrial city of Helmand province where fighting has been raging this month.