The Nagahan wedding bombing was a suicide bombing on a wedding party, which occurred on 9 June 2010 at around 21:00 local time (16:30

GMT Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a cons ...

) in the village of Nagahan in

Arghandab District Arghandab (Pashto/ fa, ارغنداب) is a district in the central part of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. It borders Panjwai and Khakrez districts to the west, Shah Wali Kot District to the north and east and Kandahar District to the east a ...

Kandahar Province Kandahār ( ps, ; Kandahār, prs, ; ''Qandahār'') is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southern part of the country, sharing a border with Pakistan, to the south. It is surrounded by Helmand in the west, Uruzga ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. The attack killed at least 40 people and wounded at least 77 others. The

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The new ...

described it as "the most lethal attack in the south in recent memory".

Bombing

The explosion occurred in a men-only area of the wedding party where guests were eating. The female guests were in another building. A white-clothed boy under 13 walked in and approached within of the dinner tables before fiddling with the bomb attached to his vest. There followed a "ball of fire and smoke". Some of those killed were children. The groom was wounded and his brother killed. At least three Afghan police officers were at the wedding. Some suggested the attack was intended for 17 of the guests who were members of an anti-

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

guard group, which had once been encouraged by United States Special Operations Forces before they gave up on it. Blood donations were requested via television. The coffins of the dead were lined adjacent to the

mortuary A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cu ...

Investigation

A group of investigators was sent to the village by Afghanistan's Interior Ministry.

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

issued a statement saying none of their soldiers were behind it. The Taliban were instead blamed by the NATO troops; however, the Taliban stated that they were not responsible for the attack, even condemning it as "a brutal act". Deputy commander of NATO forces, Lt. Gen.

Nick Parker General Sir Nicholas Ralph Parker, (born 13 October 1954) is a former British Army officer who served as Commander Land Forces (formerly Commander-in-Chief, Land Forces) until December 2012. As a general officer, Parker served in Northern Irel ...

, described it as "ruthless violence" and claimed these were "sickening and indiscriminate tactics to try to intimidate the citizens of Afghanistan". A military spokesperson representing the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

said the attack had not been an airstrike carried out by his country. He dismissed speculation to the contrary as "Taliban misinformation".

Response

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repub ...

stated his condemnation and requested "a thorough investigation". Karzai, in the presence of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

David Cameron (who was visiting Afghanistan for the first official time), labelled it "a crime of massive inhuman proportions".

Tooryalai Wesa Tooryalai Wesa ( ps, توريالی ویسا; born c. 1949) is a politician in Afghanistan. He was Governor of Kandahar Province from December 2008 to 2014. Early years Wesa was born in a village near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. He belongs t ...

, governor of Kandahar Province, spoke at a news conference in Nadahan after the attack and demonstrated a piece of metal he had found which he said resembled part of a suicide bomb. United Nations

Special Representative Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seating ...

for Afghanistan

Staffan de Mistura Staffan de Mistura (born 25 January 1947) is an Italian- Swedish diplomat, United Nations official and former member of the Italian government. After a 40-year career in various United Nations agencies, he was appointed Undersecretary of State f ...

said it was an "outrageous act" and that "to specifically target people who were gathering at a moment of happiness to celebrate a wedding shows a total disregard for

civilian Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not " combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant ...

life".

References

{{Afghanistan War 2010 murders in Afghanistan 21st century in Kandahar Province 21st-century mass murder in Afghanistan Attacks on buildings and structures in 2010 Attacks on buildings and structures in Afghanistan Attacks on weddings Crime in Kandahar Province June 2010 crimes June 2010 events in Afghanistan Mass murder in 2010 Murder committed by minors Suicide bombings in 2010 Suicide bombings in Afghanistan Terrorist incidents in Afghanistan in 2010 Attacks in Afghanistan in 2010