Joy turns to horror as bomber kills 63 at Kabul wedding
Kabul: 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.
The 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, who only gave his name as Mirwais, recalled greeting smiling guests in the afternoon, before seeing their bodies being carried out hours later.
The attack "changed my happiness to sorrow", 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 that the blast was caused by a suicide bomber.
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.
In the aftermath, 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.
Wedding guest Mohammad Farhag told AFP he was 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." One guest who spoke to Tolo said some 1,200 people had been invited. The attack sent a wave of grief through a city grimly accustomed to atrocities.
President Ashraf Ghani called the incident a "barbaric attack", while Afghanistan's chief executive Abdullah Abdullah described it as a "crime against humanity".
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Vijayanagara: One dead, 12 injured as trucks hits their vehicle from behind on NH 50
Vijayanagara: One man was killed and 12 others were injured after a truck hit vehicle they were traveling in on the National Highway 50 stretch on the outskirts of Koodligi in the district.
The accident victim, Madhu (27), is learned to have been an employee of Reliance Digital from Andhra Pradesh.
The vehicle was reportedly traveling from Bengaluru to Koodligi and the passengers are learned to have been seriously injured following the collision with the truck, which was found to have a Maharashtra registration.
Koodligi Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Mallesh Dodmani and Circle Inspector Prahlad Channagiri arrived at the accident spot on being informed of the accident.
The police officers and locals rescued the injured passengers and got them shifted to the Koodligi Government Hospital. Some of the passengers were reportedly taken to the Ballari Trauma Care Centre for further treatment.
A case has been registered at the Koodligi Police Station and the officers are investigating the incident.
