"Turn my joy sadness" .. Afghan groom talking about dozens of dead after the bombing of his wedding

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan authorities said 63 people were killed and 182 wounded in a wedding attack in Kabul. While the groom said with sorrow: "Turn my joy sadness," the Taliban denied any involvement in the attack.

"Among the victims are women and children," Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Nusrat Rahimi said. Rahimi said Saturday night that the blast occurred "in the char Dubai wedding hall in western Kabul."

Photos on social media showed bodies lying in the wedding hall, and officials said the bomber targeted the men's reception area.

"They turned my grief into my joy. I lost my brother, my friends and my family," the groom, Mirwais, told local television.

He added that "invitees entered yesterday afternoon to the wedding smiling, and in the evening we were taking their bodies out of the hall" weddings, adding that his wife "fainted constantly."

Shocking testimonials
"The participants were dancing and celebrating when the explosion occurred," one of the guests, who was wounded from his hospital bed, told AFP.

Mohammed Farahj, who was present at the wedding, said he was in the women's section when he heard a loud explosion in the men's section.

"Everybody rushed out screaming and crying," he said. "The smoke filled the hall for more than 20 minutes. Almost everyone in the men's section was killed or wounded."

Another witness who was present at the wedding told local television that about 1,200 guests were taking part in the ceremony.

A photographer from Agence France-Presse said that the collapsed ceiling of the hall and the glass of its windows, which were scattered in the place where blood is covered, indicate the violence of the explosion.

Local state television footage shows a funeral ceremony on Sunday morning in the city's graves, including one of the relatives of one family who killed 14 members.

The Taliban denies
The Taliban condemned the attack on Sunday morning and denied any involvement in it, and two spokespersons wrote in the tweet "the Islamic Emirate (name given by the movement itself) firmly condemns the attack on civilians in Kabul."

"Such deliberate and brutal killings and the targeting of women and children have no justification," they said. There was no comment from the Afghan branch of the Islamic State, which carries out attacks in Afghanistan.

In contrast, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani wrote that "the Taliban cannot relieve themselves of any blame because they use a platform for terrorists," describing the attack as "brutal" as the country prepares to celebrate its independence from Britain.

Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, in a tweet, condemned the terrorist attack and expressed condolences to the families of the victims. "This heinous and inhuman attack is certainly a crime against humanity," he said.

Help us
"Kabul is bleeding. It has to stop. Please help us if you can," wrote Tolo News director Lutfullah Najvezadeh.

"We have no right to live here," wrote Jawad Hamim Kakar, editor of the Afghan news agency Bajork.

"It is painful to see the world turn a blind eye to this unbearable suffering of our people in the hands of terrorists and it is ignored outside the borders," Afghan intelligence official Rafi Fazl described the attack as a "crime against humanity."

Afghan weddings are large, often numbering in the hundreds and sometimes thousands, and are held in huge halls where men are usually separated from women and children.

The suicide attack - one of the biggest attacks this year - came as the Afghan people, weary of blind violence, hope for an agreement between the United States and the Taliban, paving the way for peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the movement.

Several US sources have hinted in recent days that such an agreement may be imminent, but there are still some points to be settled.