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Suicide bomb at wedding kills 19, including an anti-Taliban lawmaker and a police official
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KABUL, Afghanistan -- A suicide bomber struck a wedding hall packed with VIPs from across northern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing at least 19 people, including a prominent anti-Taliban politician and a high-ranking police official. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which also left dozens injured.
President Hamid Karzai denounced the attack in Aybak, the provincial capital of Samagan province, and ordered a full investigation. He blamed "enemies of the people" -- the usual phrase for the Taliban and other insurgent groups.
The main target of the powerful explosion was apparently the father of the bride, Ahmad Khan Samangani. A member of parliament and a major powerbroker in the north of Afghanistan, he was a close associate of warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, a fellow ethnic Uzbek.
The attack, a sign of growing instability in the country's relatively peaceful north, could signal either a power struggle among powerful northern warlords, most of them members of ethnic minorities, or a renewed campaign by the Taliban to assassinate leading figures in the Northern Alliance, the former militia that helped drive the group from power.
Witnesses said the bomber, clad in a police uniform, approached Mr. Samangani as he was greeting arriving guests, and blew himself up as the two embraced. Also killed in the blast was Mohammad Khan, the provincial intelligence director, and the regional police commander, Sayd Ahmad Sameh. The former governor of a neighboring province was among the wounded.
Mr. Samangani was part of a group of "mujaheddin" leaders who battled the Soviets in the 1980s, splintered into rival armed groups during the country's catastrophic civil war in the 1990s, then formed the Northern Alliance to fight the Taliban.
The Taliban denied involvement in Saturday's attack, but the group has previously targeted senior Northern Alliance figures, many of whom oppose any political settlement with the Taliban to end the war.
Violence has been ratcheting up in recent weeks, touching many parts of the country. The Samangan attack came a day after a leading women's rights advocate, Hanifa Safi, was killed by a bomb affixed to her car in the eastern province of Laghman.
First Published July 15, 2012 12:00 am
