Afghanistan mourns bomb victims

NEW BAGHLAN – President Hamid Karzai declared three days of mourning for victims of a suicide blast targeting a group of lawmakers and children, as the death toll yesterday rose to 60, making it the deadliest attack in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led invasion.

Hundreds of mourners gathered at a mosque near the site of the bombing in the town of New Baghlan, 150 kilometres north of Kabul, before moving to a simple hilltop graveyard to bury the dead. “My son was supposed to finish school this year, but yesterday I had to peel off his blood-soaked clothes, and today I buried him,” said an elderly man who broke down in tears at one grave site.He didn’t give his name.The numbers of the dead rose steadily throughout the day as officials collected information from village elders and families who buried their loved ones.It also emerged that lawmakers’ bodyguards opened fire on the crowd after the bombing, wounding and possibly killing an unknown number of people.Fifty-four people were buried in Baghlan province, said Mawlawi Sarajuddin, the head of the provincial council, while the bodies of six lawmakers were flown to Kabul.Sarajuddin said most of the 54 were schoolchildren who had gathered to greet the visiting delegation.The Ministry of Education confirmed that at least 18 schoolchildren had been killed.Karzai, joined by dozens of other Afghan leaders, watched honour guards carry the coffins of the six lawmakers from a helicopter and down a red carpet at Kabul’s main airport yesterday.After the bombing on Tuesday, shots were fired at the scene by lawmakers bodyguards, said Dr Narmgui, a doctor at the New Baghlan hospital who witnessed the blast.Narmgui goes by one name.Karzai ordered an investigation into the attack.”There is no doubt this was a terrorist attack,” Karzai told a news conference in Kabul.He blamed the bombing on “the enemies of peace and security,” a phrase often used for the militant Taliban, and directed authorities to conduct a thorough investigation.Such a spectacular attack also could have been the work of al Qaeda.The Taliban denied involvement.The attack occurred as the lawmakers were being greeted by children on a visit to a sugar factory in Afghanistan’s normally peaceful north.Video obtained by AP Television News of the scene just before the blast shows schoolchildren, tribal elders and government officials lining the streets to greet 18 lawmakers as they were about to enter the factory.Shafiqullah, 18, said he had not seen his younger brother since the attack and was looking for any signs that he was either alive or dead.Nampa-AP”My son was supposed to finish school this year, but yesterday I had to peel off his blood-soaked clothes, and today I buried him,” said an elderly man who broke down in tears at one grave site.He didn’t give his name.The numbers of the dead rose steadily throughout the day as officials collected information from village elders and families who buried their loved ones.It also emerged that lawmakers’ bodyguards opened fire on the crowd after the bombing, wounding and possibly killing an unknown number of people.Fifty-four people were buried in Baghlan province, said Mawlawi Sarajuddin, the head of the provincial council, while the bodies of six lawmakers were flown to Kabul.Sarajuddin said most of the 54 were schoolchildren who had gathered to greet the visiting delegation.The Ministry of Education confirmed that at least 18 schoolchildren had been killed.Karzai, joined by dozens of other Afghan leaders, watched honour guards carry the coffins of the six lawmakers from a helicopter and down a red carpet at Kabul’s main airport yesterday.After the bombing on Tuesday, shots were fired at the scene by lawmakers bodyguards, said Dr Narmgui, a doctor at the New Baghlan hospital who witnessed the blast.Narmgui goes by one name.Karzai ordered an investigation into the attack.”There is no doubt this was a terrorist attack,” Karzai told a news conference in Kabul.He blamed the bombing on “the enemies of peace and security,” a phrase often used for the militant Taliban, and directed authorities to conduct a thorough investigation.Such a spectacular attack also could have been the work of al Qaeda.The Taliban denied involvement.The attack occurred as the lawmakers were being greeted by children on a visit to a sugar factory in Afghanistan’s normally peaceful north.Video obtained by AP Television News of the scene just before the blast shows schoolchildren, tribal elders and government officials lining the streets to greet 18 lawmakers as they were about to enter the factory.Shafiqullah, 18, said he had not seen his younger brother since the attack and was looking for any signs that he was either alive or dead.Nampa-AP