Coolassprov MC
10-11-07, 11:17
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,2208759,00.html
59 children die in deadliest Afghan suicide attack
· Anger over boys' presence at high-profile event
· Taliban denies involvement in bombing
Ian Black and Richard Norton-Taylor
Saturday November 10, 2007
The Guardian
The number of children killed in Afghanistan's deadliest ever suicide attack this week was put at 59 yesterday, possibly the largest number to die in a single suicide attack anywhere in recent times.
The revelation, grim even by the wretched standards of Afghanistan and Iraq, set off immediate recriminations about why such a large number of children were involved in a high-profile public event. The education ministry in Kabul insisted it had instructed schoolchildren to be kept away from the kind of function targeted in Tuesday's bombing.
The children, all boys aged between eight and 18 from the same school, had gathered to welcome a visiting delegation of parliamentarians to a sugar factory outside the town of Pul-i-Khumri, 90 miles north of the capital, in the province of Baghlan. Five teachers, six MPs and five bodyguards were also killed in the attack, and 93 other children were injured, some critically. Witnesses have said some victims may have been killed or wounded by guards who opened fire after the blast.
The Taliban, who have vowed to step up a campaign of suicide attacks as part of an insurgency launched after they were ousted from power six years ago, denied involvement in the attack.
"It would be the largest number of children killed in a single incident this year without a doubt," a western security expert in Kabul told the Guardian. "And it's likely to be the largest ever."
A spokesman for Nato's international security assistance force (Isaf) agreed with this grim assessment.
The provincial governor said that two men had been detained on suspicion of involvement. President Hamid Karzai declared three days of mourning on Wednesday, and ministers and MPs attended a prayer service at Kabul's mosque yesterday to honour the dead.
In the wake of the incident the education minister, Mohammad Hanif Atmar, reissued a ban on children being assembled to welcome visitors to functions.
"The minister has repeatedly requested schoolchildren not to be sent to any welcoming ceremony unless it is purely for educational programmes," said his spokesman. "We told the provincial educational heads not to involve children in any programme other than educational, but they did not listen to us."
The Taliban have claimed responsibility for 130 suicide bomb attacks this year and up to 5,700 people have been killed - most of them rebels. But their denial of involvement in this one, in the relatively peaceful north of the country, has fuelled a climate of fear and speculation about who might be behind it.
The attack was strongly condemned by the charity War Child. "This incident demonstrates yet again that the protection of children is not only a development imperative but needs to be central to the humanitarian agenda," it said.
Meanwhile in London, the Ministry of Defence confirmed that a soldier serving with 36 Engineer Regiment was killed yesterday in a road accident in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. Another soldier and an interpreter were also injured. No enemy forces were involved. The latest death brings the total number of British personnel killed in Afghanistan since November 2001 to 83.
59 children die in deadliest Afghan suicide attack
· Anger over boys' presence at high-profile event
· Taliban denies involvement in bombing
Ian Black and Richard Norton-Taylor
Saturday November 10, 2007
The Guardian
The number of children killed in Afghanistan's deadliest ever suicide attack this week was put at 59 yesterday, possibly the largest number to die in a single suicide attack anywhere in recent times.
The revelation, grim even by the wretched standards of Afghanistan and Iraq, set off immediate recriminations about why such a large number of children were involved in a high-profile public event. The education ministry in Kabul insisted it had instructed schoolchildren to be kept away from the kind of function targeted in Tuesday's bombing.
The children, all boys aged between eight and 18 from the same school, had gathered to welcome a visiting delegation of parliamentarians to a sugar factory outside the town of Pul-i-Khumri, 90 miles north of the capital, in the province of Baghlan. Five teachers, six MPs and five bodyguards were also killed in the attack, and 93 other children were injured, some critically. Witnesses have said some victims may have been killed or wounded by guards who opened fire after the blast.
The Taliban, who have vowed to step up a campaign of suicide attacks as part of an insurgency launched after they were ousted from power six years ago, denied involvement in the attack.
"It would be the largest number of children killed in a single incident this year without a doubt," a western security expert in Kabul told the Guardian. "And it's likely to be the largest ever."
A spokesman for Nato's international security assistance force (Isaf) agreed with this grim assessment.
The provincial governor said that two men had been detained on suspicion of involvement. President Hamid Karzai declared three days of mourning on Wednesday, and ministers and MPs attended a prayer service at Kabul's mosque yesterday to honour the dead.
In the wake of the incident the education minister, Mohammad Hanif Atmar, reissued a ban on children being assembled to welcome visitors to functions.
"The minister has repeatedly requested schoolchildren not to be sent to any welcoming ceremony unless it is purely for educational programmes," said his spokesman. "We told the provincial educational heads not to involve children in any programme other than educational, but they did not listen to us."
The Taliban have claimed responsibility for 130 suicide bomb attacks this year and up to 5,700 people have been killed - most of them rebels. But their denial of involvement in this one, in the relatively peaceful north of the country, has fuelled a climate of fear and speculation about who might be behind it.
The attack was strongly condemned by the charity War Child. "This incident demonstrates yet again that the protection of children is not only a development imperative but needs to be central to the humanitarian agenda," it said.
Meanwhile in London, the Ministry of Defence confirmed that a soldier serving with 36 Engineer Regiment was killed yesterday in a road accident in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. Another soldier and an interpreter were also injured. No enemy forces were involved. The latest death brings the total number of British personnel killed in Afghanistan since November 2001 to 83.