Gunmen kill 32 in Afghanistan

Gunmen opened fire on Friday at a ceremony in Afghanistan’s capital attended by prominent political leaders, killing at least 32 people and wounding dozens before the two attackers were slain by police, officials said.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack on its website. Afghanistan’s upstart IS affiliate has declared war on the country’s minority Shiites. Many of those at the ceremony were Shiites because it was commemorating the 1995 slaying of Abdul Ali Mazari, the leader of Afghanistan’s ethnic Hazaras, who are mostly Shiite.

The Taliban said they were not involved in the attack, which came less than a week after the US and the group signed an ambitious peace deal that lays out a path for the withdrawal of American forces from the country.

Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said 32 people were killed and 81 wounded in the attack in the Dasht-e-barchi neighborhood of Kabul. The Health Ministry also reported 32 people were killed but said 58 were wounded. Opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah, who is the country’s chief executive and was a top contender in last year’s presidential election, was among several prominent political officials who attended the ceremony but left before the attack and were unhurt.

Several TV journalists were covering the ceremony inside a walled compound when the gunmen began shooting, and a reporter and a cameraman for a local broadcaster were among the wounded. Karim Khalili, the chief of Afghanistan’s high peace council, was delivering a speech when the gunfire interrupted him. He was not hurt and later went on TV to denounce the violence.

Several witnesses said that, amid the panic, members of the security forces guarding the event had fired on civilians in the crowd.

“Individuals with military uniforms who were there targeted people, there were casualties, dead and wounded,” said witness Ghulam Mohammad, according to Associated Press video.