Afghanistan wedding hall blast: more than 60 killed, 180 injured

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/17/dozens-feared-dead-or-wounded-after-afghan-wedding-hall-blast

Afghanistan wedding hall blast: more than 60 killed, 180 injured

Guardian staff and agencies

Sun 18 Aug 2019 07.27 BST First published on Sat 17 Aug 2019 21.52 BST
An explosion ripped through a wedding hall on a busy Saturday night in Afghanistan’s capital, leaving more than 60 people dead and more than 180 injured, a the interior ministry has said. More than 1,000 people were believed to be inside.
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The Taliban denied responsibility for the blast at the Dubai City wedding hall in western Kabul, a part of the city that many in the minority Shia Hazara community call home.

Women and children were among the casualties, the interior ministry spokesman, Nasrat Rahimi, said on Sunday.

Mohammad Farhag, who had been at the wedding, said he had been in the women’s section when he heard a huge blast in the men’s area.

“Everyone ran outside shouting and crying,” he said.

“For about 20 minutes the hall was full of smoke. Almost everyone in the men’s section is either dead or wounded.”

Two hours after the blast, he said bodies were still being removed from the hall.
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The latest attack came a few days after the end of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, as Kabul residents were visiting family and friends, and just before Afghanistan marks its 100th independence day on Monday.
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[Eugene]

1. Islamic State claims Afghan wedding suicide blast that killed 63

Source: Reuters

WORLD NEWS AUGUST 17, 2019 / 3:35 PM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

Islamic State claims Afghan wedding suicide blast that killed 63

Abdul Qadir Sediqi
4 MIN READ

KABUL (Reuters) - The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility on Sunday for a suicide blast at a wedding reception in Afghanistan that killed 63 people, underling the dangers the country faces even if the Taliban agree a pact with the United States.

The Saturday night attack came as the Taliban and the United States try to negotiate an agreement on the withdrawal of U.S. forces in exchange for a Taliban commitment on security and peace talks with Afghanistan’s U.S.-backed government.

Islamic State (IS) fighters, who first appeared in Afghanistan in 2014 and have since made inroads in the east and north, are not involved in the talks. They are battling government and U.S.-led international forces and the Taliban.

The group, in a statement on the messaging website Telegram, claimed responsibility for the attack at a west Kabul wedding hall, in a minority Shi’ite neighborhood, saying its bomber had been able to infiltrate the reception and detonate his explosives in the crowd of “infidels”.

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-blast/islamic-state-claims-afghan-wedding-suicide-blast-that-killed-63-idUSKCN1V70K6