Gunmen kill 9 at Afghan wedding party
Gunmen stormed a wedding party in eastern Afghanistan overnight, killing the groom and eight other people in an attack blamed on Taliban-linked insurgents, officials said.
The groom was a cousin of the local district chief, and women and children were also among the casualties in the attack at the family party in Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan, the provincial spokesman said.
The gunmen were armed with AK-47 assault rifles and stormed the house where the party was being held, said spokesman Abdulzia Ahmadzai.
“Nine people were killed and five others injured on Wednesday night when armed opposition militants attacked a wedding party in Dur Baba district.”
District chief Hamisha Gul Muslim said that his cousin had been the groom and that he had been killed in the attack.
Muslim said he was not at the party at the time and said that officials were investigating the incident.
The Taliban were not immediately reachable for comment, but the militants have frequently targeted government officials as well as the police and army in their nearly 10-year insurgency against Kabul and US-led Nato troops.
Flashpoint for violence
The east, which borders Pakistan, where militants have hideouts, has long been a flashpoint for violence blamed on the Taliban and other insurgents.
Last month a suicide bomber killed 13 people in Nangarhar and in February, an attack on a bank in the provincial capital, Jalalabad, left 38 people dead.
