A MARKET is burgeoning in Afghanistan and Pakistan for suicide bombers where would-be killers' lives are traded between militant groups for up to $US90,000 ($A84,000).
Afghan intelligence agencies arrested a Pakistani man in eastern Afghanistan at the weekend, just days before he was to carry out his mission to assassinate a local army commander.
Sher Hassan told authorities he was sold by the Pakistani Tehrik-e-Taliban to the Haqqani network, regarded as one of the most dangerous insurgent groups in Afghanistan, and sent across the border to train for more than a month.
He was arrested by Afghan intelligence before he could kill Afghan army commander Azizullah, whose rank and station have not been revealed.
Hassan said he had been sold by the Pakistani Taliban for the specific mission, Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) said.
''The detained man added that a commander under Hakimullah Mehsud sells suicide bombers at 6 million ($A64,000) to 8 million Pakistani rupees, to the Haqqani network for suicide missions,'' an NDS statement says.
Mehsud is the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, responsible for scores of suicide bombings in Pakistan, attacks on embassies and the siege of a naval base.
Pakistani Taliban insurgents also recently kidnapped a nine-year-old girl and strapped a suicide vest on her in an attempt to blow up a police checkpoint.
NDS claims it has more than 100 boys aged between 12 and 17 in custody, facing charges of attempting suicide attacks.
''Ninety-nine per cent of the children detained on charges of suicide attack have come from Pakistan where they were indoctrinated, trained and equipped in religious schools and other insurgency training camps,'' NDS spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said.
The price for a suicide bomber appears to have jumped markedly.
Two years ago, Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik reported the price for a child bomber was less than $US30,000.
''The terrorists are using children for their barbarous terrorist activities and a suicide bomber is paid [Pakistan] rupees 500,000 to 2.5 million from terrorist outfits,'' he said.
In its editorial, Kabul newspaper Daily Outlook Afghanistan said the higher price for a bomber was a ''terrible trend'' with serious consequences for the fight against terror.