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Afghan wedding suicide blast kills 63, wounds 182 - ministry

Afghan wedding suicide blast kills 63, wounds 182 - ministry
August 18, 2019
KABUL (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed 63 people and wounded 182 in an attack on a wedding reception in the Afghan capital on Saturday night, the interior ministry said. Women and children were among the casualties, interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said on Sunday. Pictures posted on social media showed bodies strewn amid overturned table and chairs at the wedding hall. The bomber struck the men’s reception area, officials said. “Everybody was running,” a waiter at the hall, Sayed Agha Shah, said after the blast. “Several of our waiters were killed and wounded.”
Wedding halls have become a big business in Kabul as the Afghan economy slowly picks up and families spend more on celebrations.
At least 40 people were killed in an explosion at a wedding hall in Kabul in November.