New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned in the "strongest terms" the suicide bombing that killed more than 40 people in Kabul.

The attack near the Afghan ministry of interior and India's embassy in Afghanistan killed 44 people and injured 147 others, Afghan officials said. The dead included high-ranking India embassy officials.

Ban said in a statement issued in New York that the attackers targeted civilians, saying that "no political agenda or grievance can justify such reprehensible means." He sent his condolences to the Afghan government and people as well as to India's government and people.

The UN special representative for children and armed conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, said after visiting Afghanistan that children in that war-torn nation are being neglected and their future is threatened.

She said children are being used by anti-government warring parties, including the Taliban, inflicting on them suffering and injuries as a result of the continued fighting.

"Children are the forgotten victims of the fighting and continue to be neglected," she said.

She said children are being detained by "national and international entities," which she did not identify, raised serious concern because of the lack of clear and transparent procedure in the detention. Those children are detained for alleged association with armed groups.

Coomaraswamy said monitoring groups should be allowed unimpeded access to all detention facilities in Afghanistan because of reported sexual abuses committed against children at those sites.

"The ongoing attacks targeting schools, teachers and school children are a grim reminder that concerted efforts must be made by all parties to the conflict to ensure the safety of children," she said. (dpa)