Afghanistan: Scores killed in Kabul wedding blast
Written by Millennium on August 18, 2019
At least 63 people have been killed and scores wounded in an explosion targeting a wedding in the Afghan capital, officials said on Sunday, the deadliest attack in Kabul this year.
The suicide blast took place on Saturday evening in the men’s reception area of the Dubai City wedding hall in western Kabul, in a minority Shia neighbourhood, packed with people celebrating a marriage.
Women and children were among the casualties, interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said on Sunday.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) group claimed responsibility for the attack on Sunday.
The attack came as the Taliban and the United States are trying to negotiate an agreement on the withdrawal of US forces in exchange for a Taliban commitment on security and peace talks with Afghanistan’s US-backed government.
The Taliban denied any involvement, calling Saturday’s blast “forbidden and unjustifiable”, but Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, said that the group “cannot absolve themselves of blame, for they provide platform for terrorists”.
In a series of tweets on Sunday, Ghani strongly condemned the “inhumane attack” and called for an “extraordinary security meeting to review and prevent such security lapses”.
