06/01/2004

12 killed in Kandahar explosion

Twelve people are reported to have been killed in an explosion in Afghanistan's second city, Kandahar, today.

Initial reports suggested that eight children were among the dead. Fifty-eight others were injured in what the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, has described as an "act of cruelty and barbarism".

The outrage occurred just two days after the Afghanistan tribal council, the loya jirga, agreed a draft constitution for the future governance of the country. It is unclear what the may have been but the detonation occurred close to a military base in the city.

A spokesperson for the Taleban, Afghanistan's rulers prior to the US-led Coalition's intervention after 9/11, denied that the movement was responsible for the attack.

However, the Taleban has been blamed for a number of violent incidents recently, and mostly within the southern provinces – areas once dominated by the fundamentalist group.

(gmcg)

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