The United Nations said in a statement Thursday that Ban Ki-moon “condemns in the strongest terms the shelling that hit a wedding party in Helmand province yesterday and which reportedly killed 25 civilians and wounded 45 others”.
According to the statement, the UN Secretary General “extends his deepest condolences to the relatives of the victims” urging the Afghan government “to carry out a full investigation of the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice”.
It is suspected that the rocket that struck the house which was hosting the Wednesday wedding in Helmand province was fired from a nearby Afghan Army checkpoint. Afghan soldiers were fighting Taliban militants at the time of the wedding.
Afghanistan has long been fighting the Taliban movement, as well as other insurgent groups, acting in the country.
In mid-December the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported that 2014 was the deadliest year for civilians in the country since the organization began its records in 2009. According to UNAMA, in the first eleven months of 2014, over 3,000 civilians were killed and almost 6,500 were injured throughout Afghanistan.
