Death toll in Afghan blast rises to 100

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A provincial governor said Monday he had warned an anti-Taliban militia leader targeted in a suicide attack that militants were trying to kill him. The death toll in Afghanistan`s deadliest bombing since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion rose to more than 100. Afghans buried relatives and friends in the southern city of Kandahar on Monday, a day after a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of men and boys watching a dog fighting competition.

Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid told The Associated Press the death toll had risen to more than 100, up from 80. Most victims were killed immediately, though some of the scores of Afghans critically wounded had died, Khalid said. He did not give a precise toll. The bombing was the deadliest in Afghanistan since the Taliban`s ouster from power in 2001 and follows a year of record violence and predictions the conflict could turn even deadlier in 2008.

Officials said the suicide attacker targeted a militia leader, Abdul Hakim Jan, who died in the attack, along with 35 of his men. Khalid told mourners at a mosque he had warned Jan about three weeks ago that militant suicide bombers were trying to target him. The bomber struck in a barren dirt field on the western edge of Kandahar city, as several hundred people watched a dog fighting competition, turning the field a bloody red.

“The contrast between those who take innocent lives so brutally and senselessly and those working with Afghanistan`s government and people to build a better future, could not be more stark,” a statement from the office of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday. Khalid blamed the attack on “the enemy of Afghanistan” which typically means the Taliban.

A Taliban spokesman denied the militia was behind the attack, though the group typically denies involvement when there are massive civilian deaths. Antonio Giustozzi, a London School of Economics researcher and Afghanistan expert, said it couldn`t be ruled out the attack was carried out by one of Jan`s tribal rivals. Jan was buried Sunday night by tribe members and relatives, but others were buried Monday, said Haji Talib Agha, one of Jan`s brothers. Around 1,500 people attended the funerals of the 35 fighters from Jan`s militia, said Zemeri Khan, the district police chief of Arghandab.

Separately, a NATO soldier was killed and another wounded when their patrol was struck by an explosion Sunday in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said in a statement. The nationalities of the dead and wounded soldier were not released.

Kandahar - The Taliban`s former stronghold and Afghanistan`s second-largest city has been the scene of fierce battles between NATO forces, primarily from Canada and the United States, and Taliban fighters the last two years.
The province, one of the country`s largest opium producing regions, could again be a flash point in the increasingly violent Afghan conflict this year. Canada, which has 2,500 troops in Kandahar, has threatened to end its combat role in Afghanistan unless NATO countries provide an additional 1,000 troops to help the anti-Taliban drive there.

The U.S., which already has some 28,000 forces in the country, is sending an additional 3,200 Marines in April, most of whom are expected to be stationed in Kandahar during their seven-month tour. The previous deadliest bombing in Afghanistan killed about 70 people mostly students in November, part of a record year of violence in 2007 that included more than 140 suicide attacks.

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