By Ismail Sameem
ARGHANDAB, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghans mourned the morethan 100 victims of a suspected suicide bombing in the southernTaliban stronghold of Kandahar, a day after one of thecountry's single deadliest attacks.
The largest mourning ceremony on Monday was held at amosque in Arghandab for a top provincial police officer, AbdulHakim, killed along with 32 of his colleagues in the attack onspectators at a dog fight, said Ahmad Agha, a deputy for Hakim.
Kandahar's governor Assadullah Kahlid said on Monday thedeath toll had risen to more than 100, with more 100 wounded.Dozens of victims were buried side-by-side.
Khalid accused the Taliban of the attack, but theinsurgents denied responsibility.
The attack came at a time when some Western politicianshave called for a stronger resolve to tackle the insurgency tostop Afghanistan sliding back into anarchy.
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 comeback in the past twoyears, and more than 11,000 people have been killed inviolence.
Sunday's attack happened as a crowd of people were watchingdog fights in Arghandab, on the western outskirts of Kandaharcity.
Family members of those killed, who included six children,wept as they buried their kin.
"Look how many children have been orphaned and how manywomen have been widowed by this," Zia-Ul Haq, a religiousscholar, told a crowd of mourners. "This is un-Islamic."
As part of their campaign to drive out the foreign troopsand topple Afghanistan's government, the al Qaeda-backedTaliban largely rely on suicide raids and roadside bombattacks.
Civilians usually become prey of such attacks.
But several mourners said the Taliban, ousted from power ina U.S.-led invasion in 2001, were not behind the attack. Theyaccused foreign forces in Afghanistan of orchestrating it todefame the Taliban.
"I doubt the Taliban would do such a thing," Tooryalai tolda Reuters reporter during a mourning ceremony in Arghandab.
"This was the work of foreigners in order to give a badname to the Taliban and to justify their presence here inAfghanistan by saying 'security is bad and we can't leave'," hesaid. Others nearby nodded in agreement.
(Writing by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)