‘Changed my happiness to sorrow’: Groom after bomber kills 63 at Kabul wedding | World News - Hindustan Times
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‘Changed my happiness to sorrow’: Groom after bomber kills 63 at Kabul wedding

Kabul | ByAgence France-Presse
Aug 18, 2019 04:18 PM IST

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.

Joy and celebration turned into horror and carnage when a 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 Sunday.

An Afghan man cries as he sits inside a damaged wedding hall after a blast in Kabul.(Reuters Photo)
An Afghan man cries as he sits inside a damaged wedding hall after a blast in Kabul.(Reuters Photo)

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.

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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 at least 63 people had been killed and 182 injured.

“Among the wounded are women and children,” Rahimi said. Earlier he stated a suicide bomber carried out the attack.

Afghan weddings are epic and vibrant affairs, with hundreds or often thousands of guests celebrating for hours inside industrial-scale wedding halls where the men are usually segregated from the women and children.

“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 is 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 believed to be a Shia gathering. Shia Muslims are frequently targeted in Sunni-majority Afghanistan, particularly by the so-called Islamic State group, which is also active in Kabul but did not immediately issue any claim of responsibility.

Wedding guest Hameed Quresh told AFP the young couple were saying their vows when the bomb went off.

“We fainted following the blast, and we don’t know who brought us to the hospital,” sobbed Quresh, who lost one brother and was himself wounded.

Another guest told Tolo that some 1,200 people had been invited. With low security, weddings are seen as easy targets.

The attack sent a wave of grief through a city grimly accustomed to atrocities. President Ashraf Ghani called it “barbaric”, while Afghanistan’s chief executive Abdullah Abdullah described it as a “crime against humanity”.

Withdrawal deal expected

The attack underscores both the inadequacy of Afghanistan’s security forces and the scale of the problem they face. While the police and army claim they prevent most bombings from ever happening, the fact remains that insurgents pull off horrific attacks with chilling regularity.

On July 28, at least 20 people were killed when attackers targeted Ghani’s running mate Amrullah Saleh as he campaigned in presidential elections.

The incident showed how even amid tight security and known threats, insurgents can conduct brazen attacks.

The issue also goes to the heart of a prospective deal between the US and the Taliban that would see Washington begin to withdraw its approximately 14,000 soldiers from Afghanistan.

The deal relies on the Taliban providing guarantees they will stop jihadist groups such as Al-Qaeda and IS from using Afghanistan as a safe haven. Saturday’s attack suggests any such promise would be tough to keep.

The “Taliban cannot absolve themselves of blame, for they provide platform for terrorists,” Ghani said.

Few believe such a deal will bring quick peace.

Many Afghans fear the Taliban could return, eroding hard-won rights for women in particular and leading to a spiralling civil war.

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.

(The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text, only the headline has been changed)

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