KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The deadliest attack in Afghanistan's history that killed at least 80 people and wounded scores more Sunday has also shattered a sense of fragile peace secured by Canadian and Afghan soldiers last fall.
A suicide bomber blew himself up at a dog fighting competition in the Arghandab district, creating chaos and panic among hundreds of people enjoying one of the rare forms of recreation in Kandahar.
Government sources said at least 80 people were killed and 75 wounded, though witnesses suggested the death toll was over 100.
Hats, shoes, bloody blankets and body parts were scattered across the field where the competition had been taking place and those who hadn't run away simply stood in shock and silence in the aftermath.
Afghan police officers and bystanders inspect the site of a bomb blast in Kandahar Sunday. (HAMID ZALMY/AFP/Getty Images)
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It appeared that the target of the attack was a high-profile police commander in the district, Abdul Hakim Jan, known for his forceful stand against the Taliban.
Five of his police officers were also reportedly killed when the bomber detonated in front of three Afghan police vehicles.
District leader Karimullah Naqibi told The Canadian Press it was the worst day of his life.
“I am scared for my people,” Mr. Naqibi said. “What was secure has now become insecure.”
Mr. Naqibi called for international troops and Afghan forces to move immediately into the area to assuage fears among the people that the Taliban had returned.
Many of the people in the area, as well as those killed on Sunday, are from the Alikozai tribe, which Naqibi leads.
He was elevated to that position, and control over the Arghandab district in October, following the death of his father Mullah Naqib, a revered warlord who had managed to keep insurgents at bay.
But they sought to capitalize on the uncertainty surrounding Mr. Naqibi's leadership abilities and attempted to retake the area, which prompted Canadian and Afghan forces to move in.
The ensuing operations to chase the insurgents away were declared a success.
But Mr. Naqibi said Sunday he and his people were fearful the attack proved the police in place to protect the area weren't strong enough to keep the peace.
Canadian soldiers are currently building a forward operating base in the Arghandab for a permanent security presence in the area.
In recent weeks, military leaders have insisted Canadian efforts, together with Afghan forces, have led to parts of Kandahar province being more secure.
By late Sunday night in Afghanistan, there was no official comment from the Canadian government or military on the attack.
But Canadian Maj-Gen. Marc Lessard, the new commander of NATO's 12,000 troops in southern Afghanistan, condemned the attack in a statement twelve hours later.
“We are following this situation very closely and I have directed that ISAF forces in southern Afghanistan provide maximum support to the Afghan authorities in dealing with this tragedy,“ he said.
Kandahar's Governor Asadullah Khalid was quick to condemn the explosion as the work of “enemies of Afghanistan.”
But he said it was further proof the Taliban were not the fighting force they once were.
“This was a very bad incident for sure and this was a very sad day,” he told The Canadian Press.
“But I think the signal which we are receiving, it will show us the Taliban is weak, this is why they are coming to attack the civilians.”
A Taliban spokesman denied the militant group was behind the attack.
“That is not our work and I will not take responsibility for it,” Qari Yousef Ahmadi told the Associate Press.
The Taliban often refrain from claiming responsibility for attacks with high civilian casualties, though will accept ownership of attacks against police and armed forces.
The apparent target of Sunday's attack, Jan, was the provincial police chief in Kandahar in the early 1990s and was the only commander in the province to stand up against the Taliban during its rule, said Khalid Pashtun, a parliamentarian who represents Kandahar.
Jan was most recently appointed the commander of an auxiliary police force, often shorthand for a local militia operating with government approval, to protect the Arghandab.
He was also reportedly an avid fan of dog-fighting, one of the few remaining pastimes in Kandahar.
Hundreds of people had been gathering each week at the competition in a field, many of whom bet on the dogs.
One witness to Sunday's blast said he wasn't coming back.
“Allah has given me a second chance,” said Basir Jan, 33, who said he was still in shock following the explosion.
“I will not be involved in gambling any more.”
The region has been mostly calm since the fighting in October, though there have been several roadside bomb explosions.
One killed Canadian Trooper Richard Renaud in January.
Sunday's attack, however, was the largest to take place among civilians in Kandahar since an attack at Spin Boldak, on the border with Pakistan, in November.
Eight people were killed in that explosion and 36 were wounded.
Local hospitals in Kandahar were overwhelmed with the injured and their families following Sunday's explosion.
Sixteen of the more than 70 people wounded were brought to the multinational hospital at the Kandahar air field and were under the care of Canadian doctors.
By late Sunday, one had died in hospital and four others were transferred to other medical facilities.
The remaining eleven had serious injuries, said Lt.-Col. Heather Coombs, the chief medical officer at the hospital.
“Most of the injuries that we received (Sunday) were head and neck wounds and pretty serious head and neck wounds,” she said.
Lt.-Col. Coombs said she had been at the Afghan National Army hospital when the call came about the blast and was impressed by how efficiently her Afghan colleagues assessed and handled the situation.
She said the patients were assessed within an hour following the attack and that Afghan doctors made excellent medical decisions about where to send the injured.
“To be able to respond this rapidly to a situation like this, including this morning they got out their walking blood bank downtown,” she said.
“Those are all signs of increased capacity in the past year.”
The previous deadliest bomb attack in Afghanistan came in November in the northern city of Baghlan, when a suicide bombing and subsequent gunfire from bodyguards killed about 70 people including six parliamentarians and 58 students and teachers.
Investigators never determined how many of the deaths were caused by the blast and how many by the gunfire.
