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Suicide bomber kills 22 at Afghan wedding


    MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber blew himself up at a wedding reception in northern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing at least 22 people and wounding 40 others, a police spokesman said, making it one of the most violent days in the country for months.

    Influential Afghan politician Ahmad Khan Samangani, who hosted the party, was also killed in the attack, provincial governor Khairullah Anosh told Reuters.

    "It was Ahmad Khan Samangani's daughter's wedding. A suicide bomber blew himself up, killing and wounding dozens," Anosh said.

    Afghans in some parts of northern Afghanistan, which is relatively peaceful compared to volatile southern and eastern parts of the country, hold ceremonies early in the morning.

    Civilians bear the brunt of the violence in Afghanistan, which is at its worst since the Islamist Taliban government was toppled by U.S.-led Afghan forces in 2001.

    Taliban insurgents fighting against President Hamid Karzai's Western-backed government have carried out dozens of suicide attacks this year.

    (Reporting by Bashir Ahmad in Mazar-e-Sharif; Writing by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)