Afghan wedding attack kills MP host, 22 guests

Lawmaker Ahmad Khan Samangani, who was hosting his daughter’s wedding, was among dead.

MAZAR-E-SHARIF:

A suicide bomber killed a prominent anti-Taliban politician and 22 other guests at a wedding reception in the northern Afghan province of Samangan on Saturday, officials said.

The bomber blew himself up as he hugged lawmaker Ahmad Khan Samangani, who was celebrating his daughter’s marriage, police said. The blast also killed the provincial intelligence chief and a senior police commander. “It was Ahmad Khan Samangani’s daughter’s wedding. A suicide bomber blew himself up, killing and wounding dozens,” provincial governor Khairullah Anosh told Reuters.

Samangani was close to Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, and commanded thousands of men in the area. The Uzbeks are part of an uneasy coalition of minority tribes that fight the Taliban in their area.

The attack, among the most lethal in recent months, raises the risk of greater insecurity in the relatively peaceful province, analysts said. At least 23 people were killed and 60 others wounded, said a statement from President Hamid Karzai condemning the attack.

“The enemies of Afghanistan once again targeted mujahideen figures who strive for national unity,” Karzai said.

The wounded were in critical condition and the death toll could rise, said regional police spokesman Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai.

Samangani had told guards at the party not to inconvenience guests with security searches, said provincial police chief Khalil Andarabi.

The Taliban, which has been behind a series of suicide attacks this year, denied responsibility. The group often distances itself from attacks with high civilian death tolls.

“We don’t have a hand in this,” spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. “Ahmad Khan (Samangani) was a former commander of the mujahideen, he was notorious and many people could have had problems with him.”

Samangani, a powerful political figure from Samangan province, was also a former mujahideen chief who fought against the Soviets in the 1980s, and against the Taliban during their 1996-2001 rule.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2012.