Death toll from weekend Kabul wedding attack now 80

IS, who are hardline Sunni jihadists, targetted Saturday's wedding, a Shia event

Afghanistan Wedding Hall Blast An Afghan woman cries as she touches a banner displaying photographs of victims of the Dubai City wedding hall bombing during a memorial service in Kabul, Afghanistan | AP

A suicide bomber targetted a packed wedding hall in Kabul on Saturday. Initially, the toll from the incident was 63 and now, the toll has gone up to 80. the blast has been one of the deadliest in more than a year. More than 180 people have been reported wounded.

"The death toll has now risen to 80," interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said.

"Some injured people with critical wounds who were taken to hospital have lost their lives." It was Kabul's deadliest attack since January 2018 when the Taliban packed an ambulance with explosives and detonated it in a crowded street — killing 103 people, according to an official toll.

IS, who are hardline Sunni jihadists, targetted Saturday's wedding, a Shia event. The impact of the blast was so powerful that it blew off much of the roof of the wedding hall. 

Amidst these continued acts of violence in the war-torn nation, US and leaders of the Taliban are holding talks to end the 18-year-old war and US remove its troop presence from Afghanistan. 

On Tuesday, Zalmay Khalilzad, the US peace envoy for Afghanistan, said he was ready to resume a new round of talks with the Taliban. The State Department said he will then head to Afghanistan, where he plans to help prepare the ground for planned talks between the Taliban and Afghan government.