KABUL // A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a mosque in northern Afghanistan yesterday, killing at least 42 people and wounding dozens, officials said.
It was the worst death toll in a single attack in Afghanistan since 80 died on December 6 last year in a suicide blast at a shrine in Kabul on the Shiite holy day of Ashura.
The attack in the town of Maymana, capital of northern Faryab province, came as people were gathering at the mosque to celebrate Eid Al Adha.
The attacker was wearing a police uniform when he blew himself up at the entrance to the city's packed Eid Gah mosque, deputy provincial governor Abdul Satar Barez said.
"We have 42 dead, more than 20 are security forces and the rest of them are civilians, including five or six children," he said.
"Around 51 are wounded, some 15 of them critically injured."
Top provincial officials, including the governor and the police chief, were inside the building when the bomber set off his explosives outside, where a large crowd had gathered, Mr Barez said. The officials were not hurt, but most of the dead were police officers and soldiers.
"There was blood and dead bodies everywhere," said Khaled, a doctor who was in the mosque at the time of the blast. "It was a massacre."
Video from the scene showed the bodies of several soldiers and policemen lying next to their vehicles parked on a tree-lined avenue of the city, located about 500 kilometres north-west of Kabul. On the pavement, a number of civilians lay along the mosque's outer wall, some writhing and moaning in pain.
It appeared to be the deadliest suicide attack in recent months.
Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, strongly condemned the attack, saying that those who carried it out were "enemies of Islam and humanity".
The attack came as Mr Karzai was urging Taliban insurgents "to stop killing other Afghans".
In his Eid Al Adha message to the nation yesterday morning, Mr Karzai called on the insurgents to "stop the destruction of our mosques, hospitals and schools".
The United Nations says that Taliban attacks account for the vast majority of civilian casualties in the 11-year war. The insurgents routinely deny that they are responsible for attacks on civilians, saying they target only foreign troops or members of the Afghan security forces.
On Wednesday, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar urged his fighters to "pay full attention to the prevention of civilian casualties", saying the enemy was trying to blame them on the insurgents.
Northern Afghanistan is relatively peaceful, with the Taliban, concentrating their operations in the south and east of the country.
But they have recently stepped up their activities in the north, despite the presence of more than 100,000 Nato troops in the country.
Also yesterday, the Taliban claimed responsibility for killing two American service members in southern Uruzgan province, in what may have been the latest insider attack against Western troops.
It was the second suspected insider attack in two days. On Wednesday, two British troops and an Afghan policeman were shot dead in Helmand province.
Before Thursday's assault, 53 foreigners attached to the US-led coalition had been killed in attacks by Afghan soldiers or police this year.
* Associated Press with additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
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What it means to be a conservationist
Who is Enric Sala?
Enric Sala is an expert on marine conservation and is currently the National Geographic Society's Explorer-in-Residence. His love of the sea started with his childhood in Spain, inspired by the example of the legendary diver Jacques Cousteau. He has been a university professor of Oceanography in the US, as well as working at the Spanish National Council for Scientific Research and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Biodiversity and the Bio-Economy. He has dedicated his life to protecting life in the oceans. Enric describes himself as a flexitarian who only eats meat occasionally.
What is biodiversity?
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, all life on earth – including in its forests and oceans – forms a “rich tapestry of interconnecting and interdependent forces”. Biodiversity on earth today is the product of four billion years of evolution and consists of many millions of distinct biological species. The term ‘biodiversity’ is relatively new, popularised since the 1980s and coinciding with an understanding of the growing threats to the natural world including habitat loss, pollution and climate change. The loss of biodiversity itself is dangerous because it contributes to clean, consistent water flows, food security, protection from floods and storms and a stable climate. The natural world can be an ally in combating global climate change but to do so it must be protected. Nations are working to achieve this, including setting targets to be reached by 2020 for the protection of the natural state of 17 per cent of the land and 10 per cent of the oceans. However, these are well short of what is needed, according to experts, with half the land needed to be in a natural state to help avert disaster.
