Three men claiming to be with the Taliban shot and killed three people for playing music at a wedding reception in Afghanistan on Friday, injuring 10 others.
The alleged members of the Taliban approached the party and asked attendees to stop playing the music, according to reports. When they declined to stop, the gunmen fired at them, leaving two of the attendees seriously injured.
Two of the gunmen have been arrested and will be handed over to the courts, according to local reports. The third is still at large.
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A spokesman for the Taliban in a Sunday press conference denied the men were acting on behalf of the Taliban. The terror group claimed that while playing music should be discouraged, physical violence is not permissible. An investigation is underway to determine whether the killings were personal instead.
“In the ranks of the Islamic Emirate, no one has the right to turn anyone away from music or anything, only to try to persuade them. That is the main way,” spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. “If anyone kills someone by himself, even if they are our personnel, that is a crime. And we will introduce them to the courts, and they will face the law.”
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The Taliban outlawed music as entertainment between 1996 and 2001, when they initially maintained power over Afghanistan. The terror group returned to power in August 2021 after capturing Kabul as the United States pulled its military presence out of the country. They have not explicitly outlawed music, but they still maintain it is in violation of Shariah. Because music is discouraged for entertainment purposes, the wedding party had to get permission for music from a Taliban leader, according to the BBC.
