More than 40 women, children killed at Afghan wedding

There was no immediate word on what caused the tragedy, but one local official pointed to the dangers of cramming so many guests into traditionally made mud brick homes built without adequate support.

Weddings are one of the principle forms of entertainment and social interaction in Afghanistan, where men and women typically celebrate in separate quarters, which could explain why so many of the victims were female.

"There was a wedding in Warchi village of Jalga district of Baghlan province when the roof collapsed, killing more than 40 women and children," said Baghlan governor Munshi Abdul Majid.

Baghlan, in the northeast, is mountainous and remote and lies beyond the main telephone network and outside of the reach of swift access to proper healthcare, local officials said.

Mahmood Haqmal, spokesman for the Baghlan government, said the incident happened at 1:00 pm (0830 GMT).

"There was a wedding party and the second floor of the house was packed with people. The floor of the first storey collapsed into the ground floor. More than 40 people were killed and 15 people wounded," Haqmal told AFP.

He warned this was an initial report and that the death toll could rise.

"The houses there are all very old. They\'re made of mud bricks and covered with wood. The unusual weight of so many people and the age of the house could have been a reason for the collapse.

"Phones don\'t work in the area and the flow of information is slow."

The interior ministry in Kabul confirmed that dozens of people were killed, but had no information either on the cause of the incident.

"There are dozens of deaths, a lot of them being women. But we don\'t know how many perished," ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP.

The Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan is now at its most lethal, killing at least 603 foreign troops so far this year and thousands of Afghan civilians since the 2001 US-led invasion brought down their Islamist regime.

More than 150,000 international forces are stationed in the troubled nation, where US President Barack Obama has said he wants to start drawing down American forces next July.

Fifty people were killed when a suicide bomber attacked a wedding party in June. Those festivities had been attended by members of an anti-Taliban militia in Kandahar, the Taliban\'s principal stronghold in the south.

In November 2008, the Afghan presidency said around 40 civilians, including women and children, were killed in what villagers in Wocha Bakhta, 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Kandahar, said was a wedding party.

The international military coalition said nine insurgents were killed in a battle in the southern province but could not confirm civilian casualties.

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