UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Wednesday strongly condemned the suicide bombing of a mosque in the Afghan city of Kandahar which left at least 20 people dead, including the Kabul police chief.
"The Secretary-General was shocked and angered to learn of the attack today on the Abdul Rab Akhundzada mosque in Kandahar," Annan said in a statement released by his spokesman.
"It is clear that this was one of the most deadly assaults against civilians in Afghanistan in several years," the statement said.
"(The UN Secretary General) is outraged by this senseless attack, all the more so as it was directed against a place of worship during a memorial service for a member of the clergy, who was himself assassinated two days ago," the statement said.
"The Secretary-General strongly condemns this heinous act of terrorism, and expresses his profound condolences to the Government of Afghanistan and the bereaved families of the victims," it added.
The police chief of Kabul, General Akram Khakraizwall, was among those killed when a blast ripped through the funeral of Maulvi Abdullah Fayyaz, a key anti-Taliban cleric in Kandahar, the birthplace of the hardline Islamic militia.
06/01/2005 17:49 GMT