KABUL, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday termed the suicide attack that left some 40 dead in Pakistan as an act of terrorism and strongly denounced it, a statement issued by his office said.

    "This heinous act of terrorism is against Islam and humanity and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms," Karzai said in the statement. "Terrorism threatens peace and progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan alike."

    The Afghan president also said that targeting Muslims at a funeral shows the terrorists' sheer enmity and hatred towards Islam.

    The bloody terrorist attack, according to media reports, occurred at the funeral ceremony of senior police officer Jawed Iqbal who died in a Friday roadside bomb in northwestern Pakistan's Swat valley.

    Both Afghanistan and Pakistan have been the scene of growing terrorist attacks as the hard-line Taliban and associated militants have stepped up their attacks in both the neighboring nations.