Kandahar: A Taliban spokesman today denied
any responsibility for a major bombing that killed dozens of
people in southern Afghanistan`s largest city, saying that the
militant group condemns the attack.
The explosion ripped through a central area of
Kandahar city just after nightfall, killing at least 43 people
and wounding 65, according to the Interior Ministry. It
flattened buildings and sent flames shooting into the sky on
the same day that the first preliminary results were released
from last week`s landmark presidential vote.
Rescue workers were still pulling out injured people.
"There are some people still trapped in the buildings
and we are trying to get them out," said Mohammad Darwish, one
of the rescue workers.
The thundering blast occurred in a district that
includes UN facilities and an Afghan intelligence office.
Kandahar is the spiritual home of the Taliban and the
city was hit by rockets on the morning of election day as
Taliban militants made good on threats to try to disrupt last
Thursday`s polling with violence.
However, the group said it had no involvement in the
most recent attack.
"We are denying responsibility, and condemn this
attack in which innocent civilians were killed," Taliban
spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi wrote in a text message sent to
a reporter.
Bureau Report
