MOCSOW, August 26 (RIA Novosti) - At least 43 people died and 65 were wounded when a bomb blast shook the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Wednesday, the foreign ministry said in a press release.
The car bomb exploded near a reception hall used for weddings in a residential part of the city, local police said, adding that all the victims were civilians, many of them women and children. At least 10 Pakistani workers, who were employed at a local building site, are among the dead.
The Taliban have denied responsibility, however, Al Jazeera cited spokesperson Qari Yusef as saying, "We are denying responsibility, and condemn this attack in which innocent civilians were killed."
The explosion occurred just 800m from the local UN offices, but no UN staff were hurt, the head of the UN assistance mission in Afghanistan said.
Kandahar is the largest city in southern Afghanistan, an area where Taliban fighters battling the Western-backed government continue to have strongholds. The former Taliban government, ousted from power in Afghanistan by U.S. troops in 2001, used the city as its powerbase.
The Taliban have struck repeatedly in recent weeks in a bloody countdown to nationwide presidential elections, which took place last week.
