Death toll in Kabul wedding hall blast rises to over 50

Published Nov 20, 2018

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KABUL - A suicide bomber blew himself up

in a banqueting hall where Islamic religious scholars had

gathered in the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday, killing more

than 50 people, three government officials said.

Najib Danish, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said

more than 80 other people had been injured.

"A suicide bomber detonated his explosives inside a wedding

hall where Islamic religious scholars had gathered to

commemorate the anniversary of the Prophet Mohammad's birth,"

Danish said.

The banquet room is in the Uranus wedding hall, a complex

housing several large reception rooms near Kabul airport.

"Hundreds of Islamic scholars and their followers had

gathered to recite verses from the holy Quran to observe the Eid

Milad-un-Nabi festival at the private banquet hall," said a

spokesman for Kabul police.

Officials at Kabul’s Emergency Hospital said 30 ambulances

had rushed to the scene and over 40 people were critically

wounded.

Both the Sunni Taliban militant group and a local Islamic

State affiliate have in the past attacked religious scholars

aligned with the government -- who have decreed that suicide

attacks are forbidden by Islam.

But the Taliban said in a statement that "our men were not

involved in the Kabul blast and we condemn the loss of human

lives".

The radical Sunni militant group Islamic State has mostly

focused its major attacks on Afghan soil on Shi'ite Muslim sites

of worship, regarding Shi'ites as heretics.

President Ashraf Ghani called Tuesday's attack "un-Islamic"

and "unforgivable". He declared Wednesday a day of mourning.

Afghan security forces have struggled to prevent attacks by

Islamist militants since most NATO combat troops withdrew in

2014.

Despite diplomatic efforts to end the 17-year war, in recent

months the security situation has deteriorated sharply.

The Kabul government now controls only 56% of Afghan

territory, down from 72% in 2015, according to a U.S.

government report issued this month. 

- Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmed

Reuters

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