Marty
02-17-2008, 10:24 AM
Afghanistan -- A SUICIDE blast tore through a crowd of men watching dog fighting in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, killing 80 people and wounding dozens more.
Today's attack was the deadliest in Afghanistan since the 2001 fall of the Taliban regime, when a suicide bombing in the north in November last year killed 79 people - most of them school children.
Officials have blamed Taliban insurgents for the blast, which reverberated across the city, but the extremist group has not claimed responsibility.
Bodies and limbs lay among bloodied boots, clothes and mobile phones - some of them ringing - after the explosion.
Provincial governor Assadullah Khalid told a press conference shortly afterwards that 60 bodies were taken to the city's main hospital, Mirwais, and 20 to other hospitals.
"This suicide attack was the work of Taliban, the enemies of Afghanistan," Mr Khalid said.
"Lots of people have been wounded - since they have been taken to different hospitals, we don't have a precise figure at this time," he said.
More than 500 people had gathered for the dog-fighting competition, said Abdul Karim, who had been in the crowd to take part in the popular winter pastime, which was banned from 1996 to 2001 under the Taliban government.
"Fighting had just started between two dogs. Suddenly I heard a huge explosion next to a police vehicle. Then I saw lots of people dead and wounded. I counted over 40 people on the ground dead," he said.
Police reinforcements rushed to the scene as civilian and police cars and ambulances ferried the wounded to hospitals.
Witnesses said the attack bore the hallmarks of previous suicide bombings carried out by Taliban insurgents.
Wali Karzai, the brother of President Hamid Karzai and head of the Kandahar provincial council said he had no doubt the attack had been carried out by the extremist movement.
"Who else would carry out suicide bombings? Obviously the Taliban are the ones carrying out suicide attacks," Mr Karzai said.
The blast was the biggest ever in Kandahar city, he said.
The Taliban, which rose from Kandahar province in the early 1990s, last year carried out around 140 suicide attacks across Afghanistan.
Kandahar city had seen a wave of suicide blasts and other attacks but the strikes tailed off last year.
The last significant attack in the city was in December when a suicide attacker blew up a bomb-filled car near an Afghan army convoy, killing a civilian.
NATO-led and US military forces helping the government tackle the violence have been calling for reinforcements ahead of an expected surge in fighting as the weather warms in coming weeks.
Last year was the worst of the Taliban insurgency, with more than 6,000 people killed.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23230548-2,00.html
Today's attack was the deadliest in Afghanistan since the 2001 fall of the Taliban regime, when a suicide bombing in the north in November last year killed 79 people - most of them school children.
Officials have blamed Taliban insurgents for the blast, which reverberated across the city, but the extremist group has not claimed responsibility.
Bodies and limbs lay among bloodied boots, clothes and mobile phones - some of them ringing - after the explosion.
Provincial governor Assadullah Khalid told a press conference shortly afterwards that 60 bodies were taken to the city's main hospital, Mirwais, and 20 to other hospitals.
"This suicide attack was the work of Taliban, the enemies of Afghanistan," Mr Khalid said.
"Lots of people have been wounded - since they have been taken to different hospitals, we don't have a precise figure at this time," he said.
More than 500 people had gathered for the dog-fighting competition, said Abdul Karim, who had been in the crowd to take part in the popular winter pastime, which was banned from 1996 to 2001 under the Taliban government.
"Fighting had just started between two dogs. Suddenly I heard a huge explosion next to a police vehicle. Then I saw lots of people dead and wounded. I counted over 40 people on the ground dead," he said.
Police reinforcements rushed to the scene as civilian and police cars and ambulances ferried the wounded to hospitals.
Witnesses said the attack bore the hallmarks of previous suicide bombings carried out by Taliban insurgents.
Wali Karzai, the brother of President Hamid Karzai and head of the Kandahar provincial council said he had no doubt the attack had been carried out by the extremist movement.
"Who else would carry out suicide bombings? Obviously the Taliban are the ones carrying out suicide attacks," Mr Karzai said.
The blast was the biggest ever in Kandahar city, he said.
The Taliban, which rose from Kandahar province in the early 1990s, last year carried out around 140 suicide attacks across Afghanistan.
Kandahar city had seen a wave of suicide blasts and other attacks but the strikes tailed off last year.
The last significant attack in the city was in December when a suicide attacker blew up a bomb-filled car near an Afghan army convoy, killing a civilian.
NATO-led and US military forces helping the government tackle the violence have been calling for reinforcements ahead of an expected surge in fighting as the weather warms in coming weeks.
Last year was the worst of the Taliban insurgency, with more than 6,000 people killed.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23230548-2,00.html