By Ismail Sameem and Mirwais Afghan
ARGHANDAB, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomb attack ata picnic spot killed at least 60 people, and possibly as manyas 80, on Sunday in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar,the provincial governor said.
"Sixty of the martyrs were brought to hospitals and 20 moredead bodies were taken from the site. We think 80 people werekilled in this suicide attack," Kandahar governor AssadullahKhalid said.
Dozens of people were wounded in the attack which happenedin a field where a crowd of people including police werewatching dog fights in Arghandab, on the western outskirts ofKandahar city, he told reporters.
Khalid said the country's deadliest attack this year wasthe work of Afghanistan's enemies, a term used by thegovernment to refer to Taliban insurgents and their al Qaedamilitant allies.
The Taliban, behind a surge of suicide attacks againstforeign forces and the Afghan government, could not immediatelybe contacted for comment.
The head of an auxiliary police force in Kandahar, AbdulHakim, was among the dead, Khalid said.
After the blast, some of Hakim's guards fired at the crowdcausing more casualties, witnesses said, although they did notknow how many.
Reporters were not allowed to talk to the wounded inhospitals and officials had no comment about the reports ofpolice firing.
STRONGHOLD
Thirteen other policemen and six children were also killed,a police official near the site of the blast said.
"The match was going on and all of a sudden the explosionwent off," said witness Abdul Rahman whose brother was killed.
Dog-fighting is a popular pastime in Afghanistan but thehardline Taliban banned it during their rule, along with otherforms of entertainment such as music, dancing and television.
A Reuters journalist counted at least 30 dead bodies beingtaken from the scene of the blast.
Police sealed off the site. Body parts were scattered atthe site and ambulances took wounded to hospitals.
Several police vehicles were damaged by the explosion.
Kandahar is a stronghold of the Taliban who largely rely onsuicide attacks and roadside bombings in their campaign toforce foreign troops out of Afghanistan and topple itsgovernment.
U.S.-led forces overthrew Taliban's government in 2001after its leadership refused to hand over al Qaeda chief, Osamabin Laden, architect of the September 11 attacks on the unitedStates.
Despite the presence of more than 50,000 foreign troops ledby NATO and the U.S. military, as well as some 140,000 Afghantroops, the militants have made a come back in the past twoyears, during which more than 11,000 people have been killed.
Most of the violence has been concentrated in areasbordering Pakistan where the militants have taken refuge inlawless border areas, from where they have also attacked deeperinto Pakistan.
Some Western politicians say more troops are needed totackle the insurgency or Afghanistan will slide back intoanarchy.
President Hamid Karzai who has been leading Afghanistansince the Taliban were ousted instead wants the strengtheningof the Western-trained Afghan forces and more funds.
(Writing by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
