The Nagahan wedding bombing was a

suicide bombing A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...

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 local mean 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 co ...

) in the village of Nagahan in

Arghandab District Arghandab (Pashto/) 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 and south. The p ...

of Kandahar Province,

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. 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 (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

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

Bombing

The

explosion An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume of a given amount of matter associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Explosions may also be generated ...

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 The Afghan National Police (ANP; ; ), also known as the Afghan Police, is the national police force of the Afghanistan, Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, serving as a single law enforcement agency all across the country. The first police officer i ...

officers were at the wedding. Some suggested the attack was intended for 17 of the guests who were members of an anti-

Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...

guard group, which had once been encouraged by

United States Special Operations Forces United States special operations forces (SOF) are the active and reserve component forces of the United States Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force within the US military, as designated by the Secretary of Defense and specifically organized, ...

before they gave up on it.

Blood donation A 'blood donation'' occurs when a person voluntarily has blood drawn and used for transfusions and/or made into biopharmaceutical medications by a process called fractionation (separation of whole blood components). A donation may be of wh ...

s 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 cus ...

Investigation

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

Interior Ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

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 (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

said the attack had not been an

airstrike An airstrike, air strike, or air raid is an offensive operation carried out by aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as blimps, balloons, fighter aircraft, attack aircraft, bombers, attack helicopters, and drones. The official d ...

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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan politician who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from 2002 to 2014, including as the first president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from 2004 to 2014. He previously served a ...

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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

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

Tooryalai Wesa Tooryalai Wesa (; 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 is an ethnic Pashtun, possibly fro ...

, governor of Kandahar Province, spoke at a

news conference A press conference, also called news conference or press briefing, is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalism, journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicia ...

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 A civilian is a person who is not a member of an armed force. It is war crime, illegal under the law of armed conflict to target civilians with military attacks, along with numerous other considerations for civilians during times of war. If a civi ...

life".

References

{{Afghanistan War 2010 murders in Afghanistan 21st century in Kandahar Province 2010 massacres of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) 2010 building bombings Building bombings in Afghanistan Attacks on weddings in Afghanistan Crime in Kandahar Province June 2010 crimes in Asia June 2010 in Afghanistan Mass murder in 2010 Murder committed by minors Suicide bombings in 2010 Suicide bombings in Afghanistan Terrorist incidents in Afghanistan in 2010