KABUL, Nov 26: The speaker of the lower house of Afghanistan’s parliament on Monday led a mass walkout of lawmakers, protesting government actions following the killing of six lawmakers and 61 schoolchildren in one of the country’s worst atrocities since the fall of the Taliban.

Mohammad Yunus Qanuni, who is also a leading opposition figure, said the government had ignored parliament’s demand for the suspension of officials in the northern province of Baghlan, where a suicide bomber attacked a visiting delegation of lawmakers on Nov 6.

Some 77 people, including 61 students and six lawmakers _ including a key opposition member _ were killed, and over 100 were wounded in the blast and the subsequent shooting by panicked guards, officials said.

Shortly after the incident, the parliament demanded the suspension of Baghlan’s governor and six other provincial officials pending the results of a government investigation.—AP