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Deadliest afghanistan attack not taliban { November 7 2007 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/world/ny-woafgh075449904nov07,0,132363.storyhttp://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/world/ny-woafgh075449904nov07,0,132363.story
Afghanistan blast kills lawmakers, schoolkids
COMBINED NEWS SERVICES
November 7, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan - Forty people, including schoolchildren and five members of Afghanistan's parliament, were killed in a bomb blast which - if confirmed as the work of a suicide bomber - would make it one of the deadliest suicide attacks since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban here, authorities said.
The blast in Baghlan, a town about 95 miles north of the capital, Kabul, occurred in a northern province previously considered one of Afghanistan's safest. Death tolls still varied widely last night, with some reports saying at least 50 people died and others putting the toll as high as 64. At least 81 people were injured. Dozens of children were among the dead and wounded.
The legislators, on an economic fact-finding trip, had paused outside a reopened sugar factory and were being greeted by local dignitaries and youths when the bomb struck. Video from the scene just beforehand shows schoolchildren, tribal elders and government officials lining the streets to greet 18 lawmakers as they were about to enter the factory. Some of the children shook hands with the guests and one teenager approached a lawmaker, handing over red and pink roses. Seconds later, the lawmaker Sayed Mustafa Kazimi - a former Afghan commerce minister and a powerful, up-and-coming member of the opposition party National Front - was dead. The video does not show the explosion.
After the explosion, the video shows dead and wounded schoolchildren lying on the ground. Many were taken to the hospital, their legs and faces stained with blood.
The video also shows an Afghan man holding the head of a man he claimed was the suicide attacker, shouting, "This is the guy who destroyed everything! This is the guy who killed us!"
Officials gave conflicting reports as to whether the attack was a suicide bomber or a planted bomb. If it is determined to be a suicide bomber, that would point strongly to al-Qaida or Taliban involvement.
U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai blamed the "the enemies of peace and security," a euphemism often used for the militant Taliban. But such a spectacular attack could also have been the work of al-Qaida. There was no immediate claim of responsibility and the Taliban denied involvement.
Yesterday's violence added to an estimated 5,700 people killed in Afghanistan this year - the worst since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001. Taliban attacks typically target Afghan and international security forces or government leaders, but often kill civilians nearby. Most of their attacks have been in the country's south or east. Taliban bombers have killed regional governors in the past, but never so many public figures at once.
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