Gun battle between two rival groups leaves 21 dead at wedding party in Afghanistan

A wedding party in northern Afghanistan was devastated yesterday after a gunfight left at least 20 people dead and several wounded, a local official said. The shootout broke out at the wedding of a local mullah’s (cleric) son at a private house in Baghlan's Dih Salah district late on Sunday, the province's police chief Abdul Jabar Perdili said. Around 400 people had been gathered at a private house. Those who lost their lives were all male wedding guests, aged between 14 and 60, said Colonel Gulistan Qasani, the police chief of Dih Salah.Qasani told AFPthe death toll was 21 people had died but other reports said 20 people had died and 10 had been wounded. The gunfight had ensued after a verbal exchange between two groups. Qasani said: “A local security official fired in the air after the verbal exchange heated up… and then both sides started trading fire." The hostility between the two groups, Qasani told AP, had been simmering for years, adding that a provincial police official was assassinated before the clash errupted. "When we collected the bodies it was difficult to determine who were shooters and who were not, because I could not find any weapons.” Those wounded were treated at a hospital in Puli Khumri, the capital city of Baghlan province. There are fears that the number of fatalities could rise. Sultan Mohammad Ebadi, the governor of Baghlan, said an official delegation had been sent to the scene to investigate and prevent any backlash from relatives of the victims. Recent Taliban insurgency has led to growing insecurity in Baghlan province and President Ashraf Ghani’s government has been criticised for failing to stop insurgent attacks.