Hundreds of people, many of them children, were inside the Dubai City wedding hall in western Kabul when an explosion occurred on Saturday.
Officials have stated that 63 were killed in the attack and at least 182 injured.
The explosion ripped through the venue in Afghanistan’s capital killing and injuring dozens of people, a government official confirmed.
The blast happened at the Dubai City wedding hall in western Kabul, a part of the city that many in the minority Shiite Hazara community call home. It has shattered a period of relative calm in the city.
A witness said the attacker set off the explosives near the stage where children had gathered.
Gul Mohammad said everyone gathered there was killed.
Another witness, Mohammad Toofan, said: “A lot of guests were martyred.”
Interior Ministry spokesman Nusrat Rahimi has said dozens of people were dead or wounded.
A relative of the groom said 1,200 people had been invited to the wedding hall.
The explosion happened at around 11.40pm local time.
On August 7, a Taliban car bomb aimed at Afghan security forces detonated on the same road in a busy west Kabul neighbourhood, killing 14 people and wounding 145 — most of them women, children and other civilians.
Kabul’s huge, brightly lit wedding halls are centres of community life in a city weary of decades of war, with thousands of dollars spent on a single evening.
Spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani, Sediq Seddiqi, said in a Twitter post, “Devastated by the news of a suicide attack inside a wedding hall in Kabul. A heinous crime against our people.
The latest attack came a few days after the end of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, with Kabul residents visiting family and friends, and just before Afghanistan marks its 100th independence day on Monday.
The blast comes at a greatly uncertain time in Afghanistan as the United States and the Taliban near a deal to end a nearly 18-year war, America’s longest conflict.
The Afghan government has been sidelined from those discussions, and presidential spokesman Mr. Seddiqi said earlier Saturday that his government was waiting to hear results of President Donald Trump’s meeting Friday with his national security team about the negotiations. Top issues include a US troop withdrawal and Taliban guarantees not to let Afghanistan become a launching pad for global terror attacks.
While the Taliban earlier this year pledged to do more to protect civilians, it continues to stage deadly attacks against Afghan security forces and others in what is seen by many as an attempt to strengthen its position at the negotiating table.
The conflict continues to take a horrific toll on civilians.
Last year more than 3,800, including more than 900 children, were killed in Afghanistan by the Taliban, US and allied forces, the Islamic State affiliate and other actors, the United Nations said.
Source: The National