Twenty Afghan civilians, including 13 children, were killed by a roadside bomb in southeastern Afghanistan today,
It was the country's deadliest insurgent attack in nearly six months.
Violence in Afghanistan is at its worst level since the overthrow of the Taliban by US-backed Afghan forces in late 2001 with record casualties on all sides of the conflict and a raging insurgency that has shown little sign of abating.
Ordinary Afghans have taken the brunt of the fighting as they become increasingly caught up in the crossfire.
Brigadier General Josef Blotz, senior spokesman for Nato-led forces in Afghanistan, said 13 children and six women were among the dead in today's attack in Khoshamand district of Paktika, a volatile province south of Kabul, that borders Pakistan.
"It is another spike in this brutal Taliban arsenal and tactics and techniques. It is unjustifiable, it is brutal," Mr Blotz said today.
Earlier reports from Afghan officials said 13 civilians had been killed as they travelled in a motorised rickshaw to the district centre for medical treatment. Casualty tolls from such attacks can often increase hours after the incident.
The bombing was the bloodiest insurgent attack since July 28th when at least 25 civilians were killed after their bus was hit by a roadside bomb in western Afghanistan.
In the first six months of last year, the deaths of children rose by more than half from the same period of 2009, according to the United Nations. Deaths of women also increased.
President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack calling it "inhumane and un-Islamic".
Roadside bombs are by far the deadliest weapon deployed by insurgents and are responsible for most of the casualties among international, Afghan troops as well as civilians.
Ordinary Afghans, however, have been hit the hardest. The United Nations said 2,412 civilians were killed and 3,803 others wounded in the first ten months of last year, a 20 per cent increase compared to 2009.
Dozens of civilians have been killed this month alone.
Earlier this month, a suicide bomber killed 17 people, including 16 civilians, inside a public bathhouse in southern Kandahar province.
Separately today, Mr Karzai ordered a one month delay to the inauguration of parliament after a special election court asked for more time to look into fraud allegations.
He promised there would be no delay beyond the new February 22nd target for forming the assembly, but by then Afghanistan will have been without a parliament for more than five months.
Over 200 members of parliament condemned the court as unconstitutional, chose a temporary speaker and planned an unofficial opening for the original inauguration day, January 23rd.
There are 249 seats in the lower house of parliament so a firm majority seem prepared to face down the president.
"It is our right, we are the representatives of our people and we don't care what the government or the court say," lawmaker Amir Khan Yaar, one of the group, told Reuters.
The fraud-riddled poll and months of drawn-out political infighting over the results have raised questions about the credibility of Karzai and his government as rulers, and as partners for foreign nations backing him with troops and cash.
Mr Karzai himself set up the special tribunal that put the breaks on parliament, issuing a presidential decree after protests by losing candidates angry at corruption and winners frustrated that they still had not taken their seats.
Reuters