At least 20 people were killed at a wedding in Pakistan, including several children and the groom, when a guest fired off a mortar to celebrate the marriage, newspapers reported today.
They said the deaths occurred on Saturday in the village of Khanan Garhi in the Orakzai Agency tribal area of the remote and lawless North-West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan.
The mortar apparently went off when a friend of the groom was preparing it to be fired during the wedding ceremony, the reports said. They put the death toll at between 20 and 25.
Pakistani tribal groups often celebrate weddings and other festive occasions with deafening volleys of fire from small arms and heavier weapons.