Kabul (AFP)
The attack that targeted Saturday night a wedding in Kabul killed at least 63 people and wounded 182, said Sunday morning authorities.
"Among the victims there are women and children," said Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi.
This is one of the deadliest attacks since the beginning of the year in Afghanistan.
The explosion occurred at 10:40 pm (6:10 pm GMT) "in the Shar Dubai wedding hall in western Kabul," said Saturday evening Mr. Rahimi without being able to deliver a first assessment.
Taliban spokesmen denied on Sunday morning the involvement of the insurgent group.
"The Islamic Emirate (as the Taliban call it, Ed) strongly condemns the attack on civilians in Kabul.To commit such deliberate and brutal killings and target women and children have no justification", have tweeted two Taliban spokesmen.
The Afghan branch of the Islamic State (IS) group, the other terrorist group that is carrying out attacks in this country at war, has not come forward.
"I was in the women's section when I heard a huge explosion in the men's section," Mohammad Farhag, a marriage participant, told AFP.
"Everyone ran out, screaming and crying, the room was full of smoke, and almost everyone in the men's area was dead or wounded."
Weddings in Afghanistan bring together several hundred guests in large complexes on the outskirts of the city.
On July 12, in an IS-claimed attack, at least six people were killed and fourteen wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a ceremony in Nangarhar province in eastern Iran. Afghanistan.
Saturday's attack comes as the Afghan population, exasperated by indiscriminate violence, hopes for an agreement between the United States and the Taliban that would pave the way for peace talks between the Afghan government and the group. insurgent.
Several US sources have been suggesting in recent days that an agreement may be imminent, but there are still some issues to be resolved.
Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, head of the US negotiating team, could return to the region in the coming days to continue or even finalize the negotiations.
© 2019 AFP