A suicide bomber on Saturday night killed at least 63 people and injured 182 others in an attack on a wedding reception in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.

The country’s Interior Ministry says the Taliban has denied responsibility for the blast which occurred inside a packed wedding hall in west Kabul, a minority Shi’ite neighbourhood.

Spokesman for Afghan’s Interior Ministry, Nasrat Rahimi said on Sunday that women and children were among the casualties.

The attack came as the Taliban and the United States are trying to negotiate an agreement on the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in exchange for a Taliban commitment to security and peace talks with the US-backed government.

It also follows a bomb attack on a mosque in Pakistan on Friday which killed four people, including a brother of Taliban leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada. No one claimed responsibility for that blast which also wounded about 20 persons. 

Wedding halls have become a big business in Kabul as the Afghan economy slowly picks up and families spend more on celebrations. At least 40 people were killed in an explosion at a wedding hall in Kabul in November last year.