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Afghanistan blast: Joy and celebration turned into horror and carnage when an Islamic State suicide bomber targeted a packed Afghan wedding hall, killing at least 63 people in the deadliest attack to rock Kabul in months. The massive blast, which took place late Saturday in west Kabul, underscores both the inadequacy of Afghanistan's security forces and the scale of the problem they face as Washington and the Taliban finalise a deal to reduce the US military presence in Afghanistan and hopefully build a roadmap to a ceasefire. (Reuters Photo)
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The groom recalled greeting smiling guests in the afternoon, before seeing their bodies being carried out hours later. (Reuters Photo)
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Afghan weddings are epic and vibrant affairs, with hundreds or often thousands of guests celebrating for hours inside industrial-scale wedding halls where men are usually segregated from women and children. (AP Photo)
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The wedding was largely a gathering of Shia Muslims, who frequently are targeted in Sunni-majority Afghanistan, particularly by IS. (AP Photo)
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The Sunni extremist group's Afghan affiliate claimed responsibility for the blast, saying the bomber targeted the wedding because it was Shia. (Reuters Photo)
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The attack sent a wave of grief through a city grimly accustomed to atrocities and garnered broad condemnation.(AP Photo)
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President Ashraf Ghani called it "barbaric", while Afghanistan's chief executive Abdullah Abdullah described it as a "crime against humanity". (Reuters Photo)
