Alwaght- At least 63 people have been killed and 182 were wounded after a suicide bomber attacked a packed wedding reception in the Afghan capital on Saturday night.
The suicide blast took place in the men's reception area at the Dubai City wedding hall in western Kabul, in a minority Shiite neighborhood, packed with people celebrating a marriage.
Women and children were among the casualties, interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said on Sunday. Witnesses said members of the Shiite Muslim community were holding the wedding reception.
The Taliban denied any involvement in the attack, calling the blast "forbidden and unjustifiable".
The blast follows a bomb attack on a mosque in Pakistan on Friday that killed a brother of Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada. No one claimed responsibility for that blast, which killed four people and wounded about 20.
Pictures posted on social media showed bodies strewn amid overturned table and chairs at the wedding hall, with dark blood stains on the carpet. The bomber struck the men’s reception area, officials said.
“Everybody was running,” a waiter at the hall, Sayed Agha Shah, said after the blast.
“Several of our waiters were killed and wounded.”
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani strongly condemned the "inhumane attack" in a Tweet on Sunday, adding that the "Taliban cannot absolve themselves of blame, for they provide platform for terrorists".
"I strongly condemn the inhumane attack on the wedding hall in Kabul last night. My top priority for now is to reach out to the families of victims of this barbaric attack. On behalf of the nation I send my heartfelt condolences to the families of those who were martyred."
