KABUL, Afghanistan—The suicide bomber stood in the middle of the dancing, clapping crowd as hundreds of Afghan children and adults celebrated a wedding in a joyous release from Kabul’s strain of war. Then, in a flash, he detonated his explosives-filled vest, killing dozens—and Afghanistan grieved again.
The local affiliate of the ISIS terrorist group claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack in the capital this year, with 63 killed and 182 wounded.
Stunned families buried the dead, some digging with their bare hands. One wounded survivor, Mohammad Aslim, still wore his bloodied clothes the day after the blast late Saturday. He and his friends had already buried 16 bodies, among them several close relatives, including a 7-year-old boy.
Aslim looked exhausted, and said he was waiting to bury more. Nearby a man named Amanullah, who lost his 14-year-old son, said in anguish that the explosion had mangled the boy’s face so badly he could no longer recognize it.
“I wish I could find the pieces of my son’s body and put them as one piece into the grave,” he cried.
The emergence of the ISIS affiliate in recent years might be the greatest threat to Afghan civilians as the U.S. and Taliban seek an agreement to end nearly 18 years of fighting. The U.S. wants Taliban assurances that Afghanistan will no longer be used as a launch pad for global terror attacks.
The Taliban, which the U.S. hopes will help curb the ISIS affiliate’s rise, condemned Saturday’s attack as “forbidden and unjustifiable.”
The blast took place in a western Kabul neighborhood that is home to many in the country’s minority Shiite Hazara community. ISIS, which declared war on Afghanistan’s Shiites nearly two years ago and has claimed responsibility for many attacks targeting them in the past, said in a statement that a Pakistani ISIS fighter seeking martyrdom targeted a large Shiite gathering.
The event hall’s owner Hussain Ali, however, said the wedding—at which more than 1,200 people had been invited—was a mixed crowd of Shiites and Sunnis.
Ali’s workers were still finding body parts, including hands, in the shattered wedding hall; its floor strewn with broken glass, pieces of furniture and victims’ shoes.
“We have informed the police to come and collect them,” he said.
The bomber detonated his explosives near the stage where musicians were playing and “all the youths, children and all the people who were there were killed,” said Gul Mohammad, another witness.
Survivors described a panicked scene in the suddenly darkened hall as people screamed and scrambled to find loved ones.
“I was with the groom in the other room when we heard the blast and then I couldn’t find anyone,” said Ahmad Omid, who said the groom was his father’s cousin. “Everyone was lying all around the hall.”
The blast at the wedding hall, known as Dubai City, shattered a period of relative calm in Kabul.
On Aug. 7, a Taliban car bomb aimed at Afghan security forces detonated his explosives on the same road, a short drive from the hall, killing 14 people and wounding 145—most of them women, children and other civilians.
Kabul’s huge, brightly lit wedding halls are centers of community life in a city weary of decades of war, with thousands of dollars often spent on a single evening.
“Devastated by the news of a suicide attack inside a wedding hall in Kabul. A heinous crime against our people; how is it possible to train a human and ask him to go and blow himself (up) inside a wedding?!!” Sediq Seddiqi, spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani, said in a Twitter post.
Devastated by the news of a suicide attack inside a wedding hall in Kabul. A heinous crime against our people; how is it possible to train a human and ask him to go and blow himself inside a wedding?!! #Kabulbleeds Why this enmity against innocent Afghans!!!
— Sediq Sediqqi (@SediqSediqqi) August 17, 2019
Messages of shock poured in on Sunday. “Such acts are beyond condemnation,” the European Union mission to Afghanistan said. “An act of extreme depravity,” U.S. Ambassador John Bass said. A deliberate attack on civilians “can only be described as a cowardly act of terror,” U.N. envoy to Afghanistan Tadamichi Yamamoto said.
The explosion came just ahead of Afghanistan’s 100th Independence Day on Monday. The city, long familiar with checkpoints and razor wire, has been under heavier security. It was not immediately clear if planned events in Kabul would go ahead.
The attack also comes as the U.S. and the Taliban appear to be within days of a deal on ending the war after several rounds of talks this year.
Top issues in the talks have included a U.S. troop withdrawal and Taliban guarantees they would not allow Afghanistan to become a launching pad for global terror attacks. In that, the ISIS affiliate’s increasingly threatening presence is the top U.S. concern. Other issues include a cease-fire and intra-Afghan negotiations on the country’s future.
For locals, frustration at the authorities was evident as well amid a fresh wave of grief.
“We want the government to stop arguing about power and act like a human being to bring peace to this country,” one worker at the wedding hall, Hajji Reza, said.
By Rahim Faiez and Cara Anna
