Gunfight kills at least 20 at Afghan wedding

At least 20 people were killed when a gunfight broke out at a wedding party in northern Afghanistan, officials said on Monday.

"Clashes erupted Sunday night between armed men at a wedding ceremony in Deh Salah district of Baghlan province. As a result 20 people were killed and 10 others were wounded," provincial police spokesman Jawed Basharat told AFP.

District police chief Gulistan Qusani said the armed men traded verbal barbs before the gunfight broke out.

"As a result, a local security official fired in the air after the verbal exchange heated up... and then both sides started trading fire," Qusani told AFP, giving a higher death toll of 21.

He added that the victims were all male guests at the wedding aged between 14 and 60.

Baghlan police spokesman Sultan Mohammad Ebadi said an official delegation had been sent to the area to investigate the matter.

Fatal gun fights and celebratory gun fire are woefully common at Afghan weddings, which have boomed in recent years in a country battered by nearly 40 years of war.