Blast kills dozens of Afghans at picnic site

Dozens of people, including children, were killed by an explosion at a picnic spot near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, witnesses and officials said.

The cause of the blast in the western outskirts of Kandahar, a stronghold of the Taliban, was not known immediately. Some people were also wounded by the explosion which went off in a field where spectators were watching dogs fight, the witnesses said.

"The match was going on and all of a sudden the explosion went off," said witness Abdul Rahman whose brother was killed. Hafizullah, a policeman at the scene, said 70 people, including some police, were either killed or wounded. Six of those killed were children. A Reuters journalist counted at least 30 dead bodies being taken from the site. Police sealed off the site of the blast.

Pieces of flesh and body parts were scattered near the site and ambulances rushed wounded to hospitals. Several police vehicles were damaged by the explosion. An interior ministry spokesman told a private television network in Kabul that dozens were killed. He could not say what had caused the blast, the bloodiest this year in Afghanistan.

Dog-fighting is a popular pastime in Afghanistan. Kandahar is a stronghold of the Taliban who have stepped up suicide attacks and roadside bombings in recent months in their campaign to force foreign troops out of Afghanistan. U.S.-led forces overthrew Taliban's government in 2001 after its leadership refused to hand over al Qaeda chief, Osama bin Laden, the suspected architect of Sept 11 attacks on America. The militants have made a come back in the past two years and more than 6,000 people were killed by violence in 2007 alone.