KABUL: Joy and celebration turned into horror and carnage when an Islamic State (IS) suicide bomber targeted a packed Afghan wedding hall, killing at least 63 people in the deadliest attack to rock Kabul in months, officials and witnesses said on Sunday.
The massive blast, which took place late Saturday in west Kabul, came as Washington and the Taliban finalise a deal to reduce the US military presence in Afghanistan and hopefully build a roadmap to a ceasefire.
The groom recalled greeting smiling guests in the afternoon, before seeing their bodies being carried out hours later. The attack “changed my happiness to sorrow”, the young man, who gave his name as Mirwais, told local TV station Tolo News. “My family, my bride are in shock, they cannot even speak. My bride keeps fainting,” he said. “I lost my brother, I lost my friends, I lost my relatives. I will never see happiness in my life again.”
Interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said a suicide bomber carried out the attack, with at least 63 people killed and 182 injured. “Among the wounded are women and children,” Rahimi said.
“The wedding guests were dancing and celebrating the party when the blast happened,” recounted Munir Ahmad, 23, who was seriously injured and whose cousin was among the dead. “Following the explosion, there was total chaos. Everyone was screaming and crying for their loved ones,” he told AFP from his bed in a local hospital, where he was being treated for shrapnel wounds. Images from inside the hall showed blood-stained bodies on the ground along with pieces of flesh and torn clothes, hats, sandals and bottles of mineral water. The huge blast ripped parts of the ceiling off. The wedding was largely a gathering of Shias, who frequently are targeted in Afghanistan, particularly by IS. The extremist group’s Afghan affiliate claimed responsibility for the blast, saying the bomber targeted the wedding because it was Shia.
Wedding guest Hameed Quresh told AFP the young bride and groom were saying their vows when the bomb went off. “We fainted following the blast, and we dont know who brought us to the hospital,” sobbed Quresh, who lost one brother and was himself wounded.
President Ashraf Ghani called it “barbaric”, while Afghanistan’s chief executive Abdullah Abdullah described it as a “crime against humanity”. US ambassador to Afghanistan John Bass called it an act of “extreme depravity”.
Meanwhile, in the northern province of Balkh, 11 members of the same family were killed when their car hit a roadside bomb, officials said. The provincial governor blamed the Taliban for planting the device.