80 Killed at Dog Fight

Afghanistan: A suicide bomber killed 80 people and injured many more. Possibly the deadliest attack in Afghanistan since 2001. Authorities still haven't confirmed if Michael Vick attended the dog fight.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A homicide bombing at an outdoor dog fighting competition killed 80 people and wounded scores more Sunday, an Afghan governor said, in what appeared to be the deadliest terror attack in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

Officials said the attack apparently targeted a prominent militia commander who had stood up against the Taliban. He was believed to have died in the attack.

Several hundred people -- including Afghan militia leaders -- had gathered to watch the event on the western edge of the southern city of Kandahar. Witnesses reported gunfire from bodyguards after the blast; it was not immediately clear how many of the casualties might have been caused by

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Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid said 80 people had been killed in the attack. Abdullah Fahim, a Health Ministry spokesman, said 90 were wounded.

Kandahar -- the Taliban's former stronghold and Afghanistan's second largest city -- is one of the country's largest opium poppy producing areas. The province has been the scene of fierce battles between NATO forces, primarily from Canada and the United States, and Taliban fighters over the last two years.

Dog fighting competitions are a popular form of entertainment around Afghanistan. The fights can attract hundreds of spectators who cram into a tight circle around the spectacle.

The blast crumpled several Afghan police trucks and left bloodstains around the barren dirt field. Afghan soldiers donated blood at Kandahar's main hospital after the attack, said Dr. Durani, who goes by only one name.

"There are too many patients here," he said. "Some of them are in very serious condition."

Wali Karzai, brother of President Hamid Karzai and the president of Kandahar's provincial council, said the target of the attack was Abdul Hakim Jan, the leader of a local militia whom Karzai said was killed in the 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.

"Hakim Jan is one of the important, prominent jihadi commanders in Kandahar," Pashtun said. "There were so many people gathered and of course the Taliban and Al Qaeda usually target this kind of important people."