Suicide, landmine blastsin Afghanistan kill 47

KABUL: Suicide bombers stormed a Shi´ite cultural centre and news agency in the Afghan capital on Thursday, killing 41 people, including journalists, women and children, and wounding scores, many of them students attending a conference, while another blast in Balkh killed six shepherded children.Islamic State said in an online statement that it was responsible for the attack, the latest in a series the movement has claimed on Shi´ite targets in Kabul, saying the centre received support from Iran.

Waheed Majrooh, a spokesman for the ministry of public health, said 41 people, including four women and two children, had been killed and 84 wounded, most suffering from burns.

The attack occurred during a morning panel discussion on the anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan at the Tabian Social and Cultural Centre, witnesses said.

The floor of the centre, at the basement level, was covered in blood as wailing survivors and relatives picked through the debris, while windows of the news agency, on the second floor, were all shattered.

"We were shocked and didn´t feel the explosion at first but we saw smoke coming up from below," said Ali Reza Ahmadi, a journalist at the agency who was sitting in his office above the centre when the attack took place.

"Survivors were coming out. I saw one boy with cuts to his feet and others with burns all over their faces," he said.

"About 10 minutes after the first explosion, there was another one outside on the street and then another one." Deputy Health Minister Feda Mohammad Paikan said 35 bodies had been brought into the nearby Istiqlal hospital. Television pictures showed many of the injured suffered serious burns.

"There was a reading and an academic discussion and then there was a huge bang," said Sayed Jan, a participant in the conference, from his bed in the hospital.

"I felt my face burning and I fell down and saw other colleagues lying around me and smoke everywhere."

The bloodshed followed an attack on a private television station in Kabul last month, which was also claimed by the local affiliate of Islamic State.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid issued a statement on Twitter denying involvement in the attack, which was condemned by both the Kabul government and Afghanistan´s international partners including Nato and the United Nations.

"I have little doubt that this attack deliberately targeted civilians," said Toby Lanzer, acting head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

"Today in Kabul we have witnessed another truly despicable crime in a year already marked by unspeakable atrocities."

Over the past two years, Islamic State in Khorasan, as the local group is known, has claimed a growing number of attacks on Shi´ite targets in Afghanistan, where sectarian attacks were previously rare.

The statement said the centre received Iranian support and was one of the largest centres of Shi´ism in Afghanistan, sending youths to Iran for academic training.

Prior to Thursday´s attack, there had been at least 12 attacks on Shi´ite targets since the start of 2016, in which almost 700 people were killed or wounded, according to United Nations figures. Before that, there had only been one major attack, in 2011.

Meanwhile, Afghan officials say a roadside bomb exploded in northern province of Balkh, killing six shepherd children.

Mohammad Karim, the governor of Balkh's Dawlat Abad district, said the children were watching a herd of animals when one child stepped on the improvised explosive device that killed all six early on December 28. He said the children ranged in age from eight to 10.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. But Karim blamed the Taliban, saying the militant group planted the device in an attempt to kill Afghan security forces.

Pakistan strongly condemns the dastardly terrorist attack in Kabul.

“We are grieved at the loss of precious lives in this dreadful terrorist attack and convey our deepest condolence and sympathies with the bereaved families who have lost their loved ones. We also pray for the speedy recovery of the injured,” the Foreign Office said here in a statement.

“Reiterating its strong condemnation of terrorism in all form and manifestations, Pakistan expresses solidarity with the government and people of Afghanistan in their fight against the menace of terrorism,” the statement said.

“We believe that concerted efforts by state and close cooperation among them, are needed for eliminating the scourge of terrorism,” it added.