80 killed in suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan

AFGHANISTAN: A suicide bombing at an outdoor dog-fighting competition killed 80 people and wounded scores more yesterday in the deadliest terror attack in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

A prominent militia commander who stood up against the Taliban was killed in the attack and officials said he may have been the target.

Several hundred people - including Afghan militia leaders - had gathered to watch the event in the southern city of Kandahar. Witnesses reported gunfire from bodyguards after the blast; it was not immediately clear how many of the casualties might have been caused by bullets.

Kandahar governor Asadullah Khalid said 80 people died in the attack. Abdullah Fahim, a health ministry spokesman, said 70 were wounded. Mr Khalid blamed the attack on "the enemy of Afghanistan" - which typically means the Taliban.

The attack's apparent target, Abdul Hakim Jan, served as a commander of an auxiliary police force - often shorthand for a local militia operating with government approval.

But a Taliban spokesman denied the militia was behind the attack. "That is not our work and I will not take responsibility for it," Qari Yousef Ahmadi said.

The Taliban often claims responsibility immediately after major attacks against police and army forces - often naming the bombers - but shies away from claiming attacks with high civilian casualties.

Wali Karzai, brother of the Afghan president Hamid Karzai and the president of Kandahar's provincial council, said Mr Jan was the target of the attack. Mr Jan was the provincial police chief in Kandahar in the early 1990s and was the only commander in the province to stand up against the Taliban during its rule, said Khalid Pashtun, a parliamentarian who represents Kandahar.

"Hakim Jan is one of the important, prominent jihadi commanders in Kandahar," Mr Pashtun said. "There were so many people gathered and of course the Taliban and al-Qaeda usually target this kind of important people."

Kandahar, the Taliban's former stronghold and Afghanistan's second-largest city, is one of the country's largest opium poppy producing areas. The province has been the scene of fierce battles between Nato forces, primarily from the UK, Canada and the US, and Taliban fighters over the last two years.

Dog-fighting competitions are a popular form of entertainment in Afghanistan.

The fights can attract hundreds of spectators who cram into a tight circle around the spectacle. The sport was banned during Taliban rule.

Faizullah Qari Gar, a Kandahar resident who was at the dog fight, said militant commanders' bodyguards opened fire on the crowd after the bombing.

"In my mind there were no Taliban to attack after the blast, but the bodyguards were shooting anyway," he said.

The blast crumpled several Afghan police trucks and left bloodstains around the barren dirt field. Afghan soldiers donated blood at Kandahar's main hospital after the attack, said Dr Durani, who goes by only one name.

Suicide attacks have been on the rise in Afghanistan, but rarely have they killed so many people. Militants carried out more than 140 suicide attacks in 2007, a record number. - (AP)

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times