Bomb Blast In Kabul Kills Eight And Injures More Than 20

Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register KABUL, Aug 6 (Reuters) – A bomb blast on a busy shopping street in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday killed at least eight people and wounded 22, hospital officials and witnesses said. The bomb exploded in a western district of the city where members of the minority Shiite Muslim community regularly meet. Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack, the group said on its Telegram channel. A senior doctor at a private hospital said at least eight people were killed and 22 injured. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register An interior ministry spokesman said an investigation team was at the scene of the blast to help the injured and assess the victims. Video posted online shows ambulances rushing to the scene, which is also near bus stations. The attack came before Ashura, a commemoration of the martyrdom of Hussein, grandson of the prophet Muhammad, which is marked mainly by Shiite Muslims. On Friday, at least eight people were killed and 18 injured in an explosion in Kabul carried out by the Islamic State. read more Islamic State does not control any territory in Afghanistan, but has cells that attack religious minorities in the country as well as patrols of the ruling Taliban. The Sunni Muslim Taliban, who took over Afghanistan in August last year after a two-decade insurgency, said they would provide more protection to Shiite mosques and other facilities. Sayed Kazum Hojat, a Shiite religious scholar in Kabul, said the Taliban government had beefed up security ahead of Ashura but would need to improve vigilance. There are no updated census figures, but estimates put the size of the Shia community at between 10-20% of the population of 39 million, including Persian-speaking Tajiks and Pashtuns, as well as Hazaras. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Reporting from the Kabul newsroom Editing by Andrew Heavens, Mark Heinrich and Frances Kerry Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.