Death toll rises to 68 in Afghan suicide bombing

The death toll from this country’s deadliest suicide bombing rose Wednesday to 68, and witnesses said some people may have been killed or wounded when guards opened fire after the blast.

Two Afghans have been arrested in connection with the attack. Provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Rahman Sayed Khail said the two suspects had ordered women to leave before the blast.

Six lawmakers were among the dead, but most of the victims were believed to be schoolchildren.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai watched honor guards carry the lawmakers’ coffins down a red carpet at Kabul’s main airport Wednesday, after they were flown from the blast site, north of the capital.

Hundreds of mourners gathered at a mosque near the blast site in the town of Baghlan-i-Jadid before moving to a hilltop graveyard to bury most of the dead. Bodies were side by side, covered with colorful carpets, as men knelt beside them in tears.

Dr. Khalil Narmgui of the Baghlan-i-Jadid Hospital said 62 people had been buried in Baghlan province. Police chief Khail said 106 had been wounded.

Narmgui said most of those killed were students, but the Education Ministry confirmed only that at least 18 schoolchildren and five teachers had been killed.

Narmgui said he heard gunfire from security personnel and five people had been treated for bullet wounds in his hospital. Baghlan Gov. Halam Isakzai said it was possible some victims had been killed by the gunfire.