More than 60 people were killed and scores wounded in an explosion targeting a wedding in the Afghan capital.
Photo: YouTube
The blast, which took place late Saturday, came as Washington and the Taliban are in the final stages of a deal to reduce the US military presence in Afghanistan.
The Taliban denied any involvement in the attack.
Interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi provided the toll, which is the highest in Kabul in recent months.
"Among the wounded are women and children," Rahimi said.
Afghan weddings are epic and vibrant affairs, with hundreds or often thousands of guests celebrating inside industrial-scale wedding halls where the men are usually segregated from the women and children.
The wedding was believed to be a Shia gathering.
Shia Muslims are frequently targeted in Sunni-majority Afghanistan, particularly by the so-called Islamic State group, which is also active in Kabul but did not immediately issue any claim of responsibility.
Insurgents have periodically struck Afghan weddings, which are seen as easy targets because they frequently lack rigorous security precautions.
Expectations are rising for a deal in which the United States would start withdrawing its approximately 14,000 soldiers from Afghanistan after a two-decade war that has turned into a stalemate.
In return, the Taliban would commit to various security guarantees, including that the Islamist hardliners who long harboured Al-Qaeda would not allow Afghanistan to once again become a jihadist safe haven.
Many Afghans fear the deal could see the Taliban return to some form of power, eroding hard-won rights for women in particular, or the country descend further into a brutal civil war.
