A SUICIDE bomber killed more than 80 spectators at a dog fight yesterday in Afghanistan's deadliest Taleban attack since 2001.
A commander known as the "Hero of Kandahar", a key Nato ally, was among the dead, but the insurgents denied it was the start of their spring offensive.
More than a hundred people were wounded and a number of dogs were killed in the blast, a fe
w miles from Nato's headquarters in southern Afghanistan.
Eyewitnesses said the bomber sneaked in among spectators as they were packed into a tight circle around two dogs, on the outskirts of Kandahar city.
Abdul Karim, 53, a spectator, said the fight had just started when the bomb went off.
He added: "I heard a huge explosion next to a police vehicle. Then I saw lots of people dead and wounded. I counted over 40 people on the ground dead."
It is thought the bomber was targeting Abdul Hakim Jan, who died. He was the police chief in Kandahar in the early 1990s, before the Taleban took power, and was celebrated as the "Hero of Kandahar" for resisting the hardline regime even when they made the city their capital.
Military sources said Nato was relying on him to help keep the Taleban out of Arghandab, a strategic district just outside the city, which is seen as a potential staging post for a Taleban assault. He was put in charge of a short-lived auxiliary police programme which gave tribal militias uniforms to boost the number of local security forces.
The insurgents have repeatedly tried to retake Kandahar, Afghanistan's second city, but each time are beaten back by British and Canadian-led forces.
The Taleban seized control of Arghandab last year when Hakim Jan's tribal leader, Mullah Naqibullah, died of a heart attack.
Medical staff warned the city's hospitals were "overflowing" as doctors last night battled in vain to stop the death toll rising.
A senior doctor at the city's main Mirwais Hospital said: "We are struggling to cope."
Officials said most of the dead were civilians, but a number of police vans were destroyed.
The attack in Kandahar comes weeks after a similar attack in neighbouring Helmand killed the deputy governor. A suicide bomber entered a mosque in Lashkargah during afternoon prayers and killed 11 people.
Previously, the most deadly attack was in Baghlan in November last year. At least 75 people were killed when a suicide bomber attacked a party of MPs at a factory opening. Security guards were also blamed for shooting survivors.
The Taleban were last night slow to claim responsibility for the Kandahar attack.
They routinely claim attacks against military targets, but are hesitant when there are high civilian casualties.
Abu Tayeb, a Taleban brigade commander, said: "This was not the start of our spring offensive.
"It is too early. This was one martyr."
BARBARIC SPORT DRAWS LARGE CROWDSDOG fighting is a traditional winter sport in Afghanistan. It was banned under the Taleban but has flourished since 2001, along with cock fighting and camel fighting.
The dogs' ears are sliced off when they are puppies to stop them getting torn off in the fights. They are enormous, having been fed a diet of meat, milk and eggs and they often eat better than millions of Afghanistan's impoverished children.
Their owners tend to be warlords and commanders, who relish the chance to pit their animals against each other. A prized fighting dog costs tens of thousands of pounds, but their owners rarely sell them.
They do not fight to the death. A referee decides the winner at first blood, or before, if one of the dogs is pinned down.
For the spectators, dog-fights and betting on them are one Afghanistan's few forms of public entertainment.
The fights are held outside and draw crowds at city games of more than 500 men.
