AFGHANISTAN-At least 40 people were killed and 77 injured by a suicide bomb attack on a packed wedding party in insurgency-plagued southern Afghanistan, officials said on Thursday. "A suicide bomber went inside the party where hundreds of people were sitting and blew himself up," a police official said of the blast at around 9:30 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Wednesday in Arghandab district, north of Kandahar, where foreign troops are focusing on a push in coming months to whittle out the Taliban. A Kandahar policeman said many of the guests had links to local police officials or a local militia, which was why it was likely targeted, although the Taliban denied responsibility. "We condemn such a brutal act," Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told Reuters from an undisclosed location. "The Taliban wage Jihad (holy war) in order to free the people from the hands of occupiers. How can we kill them?" The Taliban have previously claimed responsibility for insurgent attacks, but recanted once civilian casualties have become clear.
