Blast Hits Funeral For Karzai's Half Brother, Killing 4

The New York Times reports:

An explosion ripped through one of the largest mosques here on Thursday as hundreds of mourners gathered to pay their respects to President Hamid Karzai’s half brother, who was assassinated earlier this week.

The attack raised fears that the city was entering a cycle of violence in the wake of Ahmed Wali Karzai’s death.

The attack came as the United Nations announced a sharp increase in civilian deaths in the first six months of the year. The U.N. report said the Taliban and anti-government groups were responsible for 80 percent of the fatal attacks, an increase of 28 percent in civilian deaths caused by insurgents over the same period last year.

The U.N. special representative here, Staffan de Mistura, said the United Nations has been in discussions with the Taliban about civilian casualties but now wanted to see action. “They will not like this report,” he said. “But, our message remains the same, they can contribute by correcting any factual mistakes in the in report, but they also have to contribute by reducing the use of these improvised explosive devices,” he said referring to the roadside bombs that are the biggest killer of civilians.

As Mr. de Mistura spoke to journalists in Kabul, a suicide bomber in Kandahar entered the Red Mosque with explosives hidden in his turban as people flowed into the mosque to pay their respects to the president’s half brother, who had held an iron grip on the city and kept violence in check.