23 die at Saudi wedding after gunfire downs cable

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By NBC News staff and wire reportsRIYADH -- Celebratory gunfire at a wedding party in eastern Saudi Arabia Tuesday night brought down an electric cable, killing 23 people, a local civil defense official said.

"At the wedding, the cable fell on a metal door and the 23 people who died were all electrocuted," Eastern Province official Abdullah Khashman said by phone.

Follow @NBCNewsWorld However, the al-Jazeera news organization cited local media reports that some of the casualties died as a result of a fire caused by the downed cable. The local reports said the dead were women and children.

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