By Shadi Khan Saif
KABUL, Afghanistan (AA): Authorities in Afghanistan on Sunday confirmed over 63 Shia Muslims were killed and nearly 200 injured in late last night’s suicide attack at a wedding party in the capital Kabul.
Interior Ministry spokesman Nusrat Rahimi told Anadolu Agency the suicide bombing at the Dubai City wedding hall on Darul Aman road has caused havoc. He confirmed women and children are among the victims, most of whom were civilians attending Shia Hazara Muslim community wedding party.
The attacker set off the explosives near the stage where children had gathered, a witness, Gul Mohammad, told AP.
“Around 1,200 guests were invited to the wedding,” said Ahmad Omid, a survivor who said the gathering was for his father’s cousin. “I was with the groom in the other room when we heard the blast and then I couldn’t find anyone. Everyone was lying all around the hall.”
Amid raging conflict across the country, traditional wedding parties have been an escape for the war-weary Afghans giving them some rare moments of happiness .
Footage circulating on social media showed bodies littered around the wedding hall and guests running for their lives.
Sediq Seddiqi, spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani, said on Twitter: “Devastated by the news of a suicide attack inside a wedding hall in Kabul. A heinous crime against our people; how is it possible to train a human and ask him to go and blow himself (up) inside a wedding?!!”
The Taliban insurgents quickly denied their involvement in the attack. The attack came as Washington and the Taliban appear to be in the final stages of an agreement to end to a nearly 18-year war.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Muajahid condemned the bomging through the WhatsApp messaging application, dpa news agency reported.
The onslaught has been widely and vehemently condemned by the Afghan government and its international partners.
Many of the victims were laid to rest in joint graves on Sunday morning amid tragic scenes.
The attack has been orchestrated a year after an identical Daesh-claimed suicide bombing killed 48 high school students of the same Shia Hazara Muslim community at an academic institution in Kabul.
Additional report by The Muslim News
[Map of Afghanistan by Tooby/Public Domain]