Gunmen target Shiite gathering

Gunmen opened fire yesterday 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 in a statement on its website.

Isis militants have declared war on Afghanistan’s Shiite Muslims, and many of those at the ceremony were from the minority Shiite sect. The ceremony commemorated the 1995 slaying of Abdul Ali Mazari, the leader of Afghanistan’s ethnic Hazaras, who are mostly Shiites.

The Taliban said it was not involved in the attack, which came less than a week after the United States 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 neighbourhood of Kabul.

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 officials who attended the ceremony but left before the attack and were unhurt.

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 at the event had fired on civilians in the crowd.

After opening fire, the two gunmen holed up in a halffinished apartment building, leading to a five-hour standoff with security forces before they were killed.