Local officials and witnesses said Taliban fighters shot dead two wedding guests for playing music, in an act condemned by the Taliban government.
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A relative of the victims said Taliban gunmen opened fire on a wedding party in the eastern town of Surkhod after they caught guests listening to Afghan music, killing two people and wounding two others.
Young people put the music in a separate room, and three Taliban members arrived and opened fire on them. The witness said that the two wounded are in serious condition.
Qazi Mulla Adel, a spokesman for Nangarhar province, confirmed the incident, without elaborating on further details.
In Kabul, government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid did not confirm the authenticity of the incident, but added that the Taliban opposed such abuses.
“And an investigation is underway. At the moment, we don’t know how it happened,” he said, noting that it could be a “personal matter.”
“In the ranks of the Islamic Emirate, no one has the right to distract someone from music or anything else, just to try to convince him. This is the path we must take,” he added at a press conference.
“If someone takes it upon themselves to kill someone, even if it is our men, that is a crime and we will take them to court and they will have to face the law.”
All secular music was banned by the Taliban during their previous regime (1996-2001).
While the new Islamic government has not yet passed legislation on the subject, it still considers listening to non-religious music to be contrary to its vision of Islamic law.
