ISIS suicide bomber hits Kabul political gathering

The bomber tried to enter the building but was stopped at the security check-point where he detonated his device.

AFP

2017-11-16

A suicide attacker blew himself up Thursday (November 16) outside a wedding hall in Kabul, killing at least 14 people in an apparent attempt to strike a political gathering under way inside. ISIS claimed responsibility.

KABUL -- A suicide attacker blew himself up Thursday (November 16) outside a wedding hall in Kabul where a political gathering was taking place, killing at least 14 people and wounding 18 others, according to officials.

Supporters of Atta Muhammad Noor, the governor of Balkh Province and a vocal critic of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, had been holding an event inside the wedding hall at the time of the blast. Noor was not at the event, one of his aides told AFP.

The bomber tried to enter the building but was stopped at the security check-point where he detonated his device, Kabul police spokesman Abdul Basir Mujahid told AFP.

"A number of our police are among the casualties," Mujahid said.

Afghan policemen guard the site of a suicide bombing in Kabul November 16. [Shah Marai/AFP]

An Afghan journalist is treated at a hospital after a suicide attack outside a wedding hall in Kabul November 16. [Shah Marai/AFP]

"As a result of today's suicide attack eight police and six civilians have been killed while a further 18 have been wounded," said the spokesman.

The "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) claimed responsibility through its Amaq propaganda agency.

Chaos and panic

"After lunch, as we were exiting the hall, a huge explosion shook the hall, shattering glass and causing chaos and panic," Harun Mutaref, who was at the gathering, told AFP.

"I saw many bodies including police and civilians lying in blood."

The wedding hall's windows were shattered by the force of the blast and a vehicle parked outside was on fire, said an AFP photographer.

Dozens of police and intelligence officers have swarmed the area and blocked access to the public.

Photos posted on Twitter showed multiple bodies of men lying on top of each other in a muddy street and in a drain, and people dragging away the wounded.