Protest against wedding shelling continues to boil

LASHKARGAH (Pajhwok): On third consecutive day, hundreds of protesters took to the streets denouncing government for what they alleged authorities failed to investigate the tragic incident that resulted in the killing and wounding of scores of people attending a wedding ceremony.

Several people were killed and wounded when mortars fired by Afghan troops hit a wedding party in the Mian Rodi village in Sangin district of southern Helmand province. 

Sources said 21 people had died and 50 others were injured in the incident on Wednesday evening. The military said the troops fired mortar shells at insurgents after they attacked their post near the house where the wedding was taking place. Most of the dead and wounded were women and children.

Sangin residents said it were their own troops who fired the shells. The residents carried out a protest demonstration in Lashkargah, asking the government to investigate the tragic incident.

A number of Wolesi Jirga members, including those from Helmand, on Friday arrived in Lashkargah, but they did not travel to Sangin for security fears.

The MPs visited the injured people in hospital in Lashkargah and then straightly went to the provincial council office.

Pajhwok tried to talk to the MPs but failed to establish contact with them.

A tribal elder in Sangin, Abdul Samad Khan, told Pajhwok Afghan News the lawmakers had sought refuge behind the walls of the provincial capital and they lacked the courage to brave insecurity and visit families of the victims.

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