Afghanistan: At Least 63 Killed, 200 Injured in Blast at Kabul Wedding Hall
A suicide bomb attack at a wedding hall in Kabul killed at least 63 people and left some 200 injured, Afghan officials said on Sunday.
Feroz Bashari, a government spokesman, said the bombing took place in the western part of the city.
Interior Ministry spokesman Nusrat Rahimi told the Associated Press news agency that the attacker set off explosives among the wedding participants.
"Unfortunately, the blast caused civilian casualties," Rahimi said, adding that among them were women and children.
More than 1,000 people had been invited to the wedding, a witness said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which went off in the men's reception area of the wedding hall in the western part of the city.
The Taliban group, which is carrying out peace talks with the US in Qatar, condemned the attack and denied any involvement.
Injured taken to hospital
A Kabul emergency hospital initially said 20 wounded people had been brought in for treatment.
"#Kabul #Afghanistan explosion in a hotel during a wedding party, about 20 patients arrived up to now at our hospital #masscasualty," the Italian-run Emergency hospital of Kabul said on Twitter.
? #Kabul #Afghanistan explosion in a hotel during a wedding party, about 20 patients arrived up to now at our hospital #masscasualty
— EMERGENCY (@emergency_ong) August 17, 2019
Afghan weddings are big and vibrant affairs, with hundreds or often thousands of guests celebrating inside huge wedding halls where the men are usually segregated from the women and children.
Insurgent attacks on Afghan weddings have occurred in the past. Wedding venues are easy targets for attackers as they frequently lack rigorous security precautions.
Saturday night's explosion came a few days after the end of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha and just before Afghanistan marks its 100th independence day on Monday.
Also read: Trump Gets Update From Aides on Afghan Peace Plan With Troop Pullout Possible
The explosion also occurred just as the US and the Taliban are widely expected to sign off on a deal that would see the exit of American troops from Afghanistan in return for various security assurances from the insurgents.
US President Donald Trump has said since the start of his presidency that he wants American troops out of the war-ravaged country, where Washington has spent over $1 trillion on military operations and reconstruction since 2001.
The Saturday attack was the 17th to take place in Kabul since the beginning of the year and the second in August alone. These attacks have claimed at least 176 lives and injured at 914 people.
This article was originally published on DW.
This article went live on August eighteenth, two thousand nineteen, at forty-three minutes past ten in the morning.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
