Arghandab: A suicide bomber killed at least 80 people at a picnic spot in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar on Sunday in the most deadly attack since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, the government said.
The attack will add urgency to a debate about how the United States and Afghanistan's other allies can help stem militant violence and promote stability.
"This event ... left behind at least 80 killed and 50 wounded," the Interior Ministry said in a statement. The death toll may rise because some of the wounded were in a critical condition.
The attack happened in a field where a crowd of people including police were watching dog fights in Arghandab, on the western outskirts of Kandahar city.
The head of an auxiliary police force in Kandahar, Abdul Hakim, was among the dead, Khalid said.
After the blast, some of Abdul Hakim's guards fired at the crowd causing casualties, witnesses said.
