KANDAHAR, Afghanistan,  (Reuters) – A suicide bomber  killed at least 40 people, a quarter of them children, and  wounded 77 others at a wedding party in insurgency-plagued  southern Afghanistan, officials said yesterday.

“A suicide bomber went inside the party where hundreds of  people were sitting and blew himself up,” a police official  said of the blast at around 9:30 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Wednesday  in Arghandab district, north of Kandahar, where foreign troops  are focusing on a push in coming months to whittle out the  Taliban.

A Kandahar policeman said many of the guests had links to  local police or a militia that works with the Kabul government,  which was why it was likely targeted. But the Taliban denied  responsibility.

“We condemn such a brutal act,” Taliban spokesman Qari  Yousuf Ahmadi told Reuters from an undisclosed location. “The  Taliban wage Jihad (holy war) in order to free the people from  the hands of occupiers. How can we kill them?”

The Taliban have previously claimed responsibility for  insurgent attacks but recanted once civilian casualties became  clear.

Ahmadi laid blame at the feet of the the NATO-led  International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for Afghanistan,  which has killed hundreds of civilians in misdirected air  strikes. Taliban attacks have claimed more civilian lives.

An ISAF spokeswoman said it was not involved in the blast  and had helped local security forces in follow-up operations.

“This is an Afghan matter,” the spokeswoman said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose plan to seek  engagement with the Taliban won support at a tribal peace  conference last week, deplored the wedding bombing as a  “terrorist attack”.

“This attack … is the work of those cruel people who act  against Islamic and divine values,” Karzai’s office said in a  statement.

Witnesses described chaos at the wedding, which had drawn  around 400 celebrants. In line with Afghan tradition, men had  convened separately and were the bomber’s target, but victims  included children who had flocked in from nearby villages.

“Some people were waiting for food, others were dancing  inside a big tent, when I heard a deafening blast,” a wounded  survivor named Aminullah said.

“The dust went up in the sky and I saw dead bodies  everywhere. Women and children were screaming. I thought it was  end of the world.”

Citing hospital reports, Kandahar Governor Tooryalai Wisa  said ball bearings had been used as shrapnel, a hallmark of  suicide bombings.

At least 10 children were among the dead and 19 others were  wounded, a doctor at Kandahar’s central hospital said. Also  killed were 10 members of a militia run by Sher Mohammad, said  local tribal elder Haji Agha Jan. Mohammad was wounded.