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A woman waits at a U.S. military checkpoint in the southern province of Helmand in 2012. (Photo: US Marine Corps)
A rocket has killed at least 26 people attending a wedding party in Afghanistan's Helmand province, the Associated Pressreported Wednesday.
AP reports that the deadly strike, which may have also wounded up to 60, occurred amidst fighting between Taliban insurgents and Afghan soldiers, though it not indicate which side fired the rocket that hit the house in Sangin District.
The news agency quotes Abdul Haleem, a cousin of the bride and host of the wedding, as saying: "I just collected body parts." Nine of his children are missing.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said this month that 2014 saw the highest number of Afghan civilians killed or wounded the agency has ever recorded.
"Civilian casualties are a particularly tragic and very prominent part, even benchmark, of the horror of the violence that ordinary Afghans face," UNAMA head Nicholas Haysom stated.
The attack on the wedding party comes just days after the U.S. declared the war officially over--an announcement that has met considerable criticism given U.S. plans for continued combat at least through 2015.
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A rocket has killed at least 26 people attending a wedding party in Afghanistan's Helmand province, the Associated Pressreported Wednesday.
AP reports that the deadly strike, which may have also wounded up to 60, occurred amidst fighting between Taliban insurgents and Afghan soldiers, though it not indicate which side fired the rocket that hit the house in Sangin District.
The news agency quotes Abdul Haleem, a cousin of the bride and host of the wedding, as saying: "I just collected body parts." Nine of his children are missing.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said this month that 2014 saw the highest number of Afghan civilians killed or wounded the agency has ever recorded.
"Civilian casualties are a particularly tragic and very prominent part, even benchmark, of the horror of the violence that ordinary Afghans face," UNAMA head Nicholas Haysom stated.
The attack on the wedding party comes just days after the U.S. declared the war officially over--an announcement that has met considerable criticism given U.S. plans for continued combat at least through 2015.
A rocket has killed at least 26 people attending a wedding party in Afghanistan's Helmand province, the Associated Pressreported Wednesday.
AP reports that the deadly strike, which may have also wounded up to 60, occurred amidst fighting between Taliban insurgents and Afghan soldiers, though it not indicate which side fired the rocket that hit the house in Sangin District.
The news agency quotes Abdul Haleem, a cousin of the bride and host of the wedding, as saying: "I just collected body parts." Nine of his children are missing.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said this month that 2014 saw the highest number of Afghan civilians killed or wounded the agency has ever recorded.
"Civilian casualties are a particularly tragic and very prominent part, even benchmark, of the horror of the violence that ordinary Afghans face," UNAMA head Nicholas Haysom stated.
The attack on the wedding party comes just days after the U.S. declared the war officially over--an announcement that has met considerable criticism given U.S. plans for continued combat at least through 2015.