MIDDLE EAST:An internal UN report has alleged that bodyguards protecting powerful Afghan politicians opened "indiscriminate fire" on a crowd in the aftermath of a suicide bombing two weeks ago, killing dozens of people including women and children.
The report also alleges that the Afghan government has failed to properly investigate the alleged crimes or bring those responsible to book. However, a UN spokesman warned that the report, which was leaked to the Associated Press yesterday, did not constitute a full investigation and that other explanations for the deaths were possible.
Seventy-seven people died and 100 were wounded when a suicide bomber struck in a crowd outside a sugar factory in Baghlan province on November 6th during a visit by a parliamentary delegation.
Six MPs died in the blast, which was Afghanistan's bloodiest single incident since 2001 and triggered three days of national mourning. The Afghan parliament and government are pursuing separate investigations.
The interior ministry says most victims were killed by ball bearings from the bomb. But the UN report said up to two-thirds died in a hail of gunfire unleashed by the parliamentarians' bodyguards immediately after the explosion.
"Regardless of what the exact breakdown of numbers may be, the fact remains that a number of armed men deliberately and indiscriminately fired into a crowd of unarmed civilians that posed no threat to them, causing multiple deaths and injuries," it said.
"It is believed that at least 100 rounds or more were fired into the crowd with a separate group of schoolchildren off to one side of the road bearing the brunt of the onslaught at close range."