Bomb blast in Kabul's Shi'ite Muslim area kills 8, injured 22
text_fields
Kabul: A bomb blast on Saturday in a busy street in Afghanistan's capital where members of the minority Shi'ite Muslim community regularly meet killed eight people and wounded 22, Reuters reported.
The Sunni Muslim militant group, Islamic State claimed responsibility on its Telegram channel for the attack in a western district of the city.
A senior medical officer at a private hospital was quoted putting total deaths at eight and those injured at 22.
A video footage, reportedly, showed ambulances on the scene where the blast occurred.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said an investigation team was at the blast site to help the wounded and assess casualties, Reuters reported.
The attack came when Shi'ite Muslims were about to mark Ashuru which is a commemoration of the martyrdom of Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.
Islamic State according to the report has sleeper cells across the nation, nevertheless the outfit is not controlling any territory in Afghanistan.
They have been attacking minorities in the trouble-torn country which Taliban had taken over in August last year after a two-decade insurgency.
The Sunni Muslim Taliban authorities have said they will provide more protection for Shi'ite mosques and other facilities.
The Shi'ite community forms between 10-20% of the Afghan population of 39 million, which according to the report include Persian-speaking Tajiks and Pashtuns as well as Hazaras.
