Afghanistan

Bomb kills at least two at Helmand dogfight

Article published on the 2010-02-05 Latest update 2010-02-05 10:42 TU

Hospital workers carry the body of a man killed in the Lashkar Gah blast
(Photo: Reuters)

A remote-controlled bomb killed at least two people and injured nearly 30 at a dogfight in the capital of Afghanistan's Helmand province on Friday.

"They keep bringing more wounded," health official Anayatullah Ghafari told news agency AFP, explaining that two dead bodies and 26 wounded had already been taken to the main provincial hospital.

The bomb was placed on a motorcycle and parked near a dogfighting pit in Lashkar Gah. It was remotely detonated as a crowd gathered to watch a fight, according to police.

The attack comes two days after the announcement of a major international and Afghan offensive against the Taliban, whose insurgency is concentrated in Helmand and Kandahar.

Two people were killed and up to 17 wounded in a bomb attack in Kandahar on Thursday.

Dogfighting, which is popular in Afghanistan, was banned by the Taliban when they were in power from 1996 to 2001.

Two years ago more than 80 people were killled by the bombing of a  dogfight in Kandhar.