AFGHANISTAN:Afghans began three days of national mourning yesterday for 41 people, many of them children, killed in the country's worst suicide attack.
The attack, in the relatively peaceful north of Afghanistan, shakes public confidence in the ability of the Afghan government and the 50,000 foreign troops in the country to provide security, more than six years after the Taliban were ousted from power.
"In the very miserable incident which took place yesterday, six of Afghanistan's hard-working, honest members of parliament were martyred, and Afghan people including schoolteachers, students and children were also martyred, and many were wounded," President Hamid Karzai told a news conference.
"So far, the figures which we have in hand are that, in addition to six parliamentarians, there were 35 people killed. We are still investigating."
The Taliban have carried out more than 130 suicide attacks in Afghanistan this year, but the insurgents denied responsibility for Tuesday's attack on visiting parliamentarians being greeted by schoolchildren and elders.
The bomber approached the delegation on foot as children lined up to welcome them on a visit to a sugar factory in Baghlan. Large crowds had turned out to see the deputies.
There were still pools of blood on the street as police collected body parts and put them in plastic bags. School notebooks and children's sandals lay strewn on the ground.
"We are treating the wounded and the condition of some is very critical," said Dr Mohammad Rokai at the local hospital. "The dead and wounded are mostly children."
Baghlan residents peered glumly at the bomb site from behind police cordons. "One of my brothers is missing, he's 12 years old. We don't know if he's alive or dead," said Shafiqullah.
Some of the dead and wounded appeared to have suffered bullet wounds and some residents said Afghan security forces began shooting wildly after the blast.
"This attack was carried out by the Taliban, but only 10 people were killed by the blast. The rest of the victims are of gunfire from the security forces," said Abdul Qadir, pointing to what appeared to be a bullet hole in his dead son's neck. Other Baghlan residents made similar charges.
A Taliban spokesman said the insurgents were not behind Tuesday's attack. The rebels usually distance themselves from attacks that largely kill civilians.
The insurgents' strategy is aimed at convincing Afghans that their government and its western backers are unable to bring security to the country, which has already suffered nearly three decades of almost constant war.
Northern Afghanistan has been relatively peaceful and prosperous compared with the south and east, where Taliban suicide attacks are all too common.