ISIS claims deadly blast at Afghan cultural center

KABUL, Afghanistan — At least 41 people were killed and dozens more wounded Thursday in a bombing at a Shiite cultural center in Kabul that also houses a news agency, Afghan officials said. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack.

It was the latest in a series of mass-casualty attacks against Shiite targets by the militant group’s Afghan affiliate. The U.N. mission in Afghanistan has documented more than a dozen attacks since January 2016, with hundreds of Shiites dead or wounded.

One of the deadliest was in October, when suicide bombers killed at least 57 worshippers in a Shiite mosque in Kabul, the capital, and injured dozens more.

“I have little doubt that this attack deliberately targeted civilians,” said Toby Lanzer, acting head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan. “Today in Kabul we have witnessed another truly despicable crime in a year already marked by unspeakable atrocities.”

In the assault Thursday, one suicide bomber entered the Tebyan cultural center during a group discussion for the anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and then detonated his explosive vest, said Sadiq Muradi, Kabul’s deputy police chief. Two improvised explosive devices placed nearby went off shortly after that, officials said.

Wahidullah Majrooh, a spokesman for the Afghan Health Ministry, said at least 41 people were killed and 84 wounded in the attack. Workers at the Istiqlal hospital appeared overwhelmed by the number of victims.

Many were being treated for severe burns. Family members arrived to claim the bodies of loved ones.

The Shiite cultural center attacked Thursday is believed to have leanings toward Iran; pictures of the country’s supreme leader are often on display at its gatherings.

The cultural center’s website and Facebook page showed it hosting discussions and gatherings on religious and political issues, many of them critical of the West’s approach to the Middle East. At a recent event, members stomped on Israeli flags and burned pictures of President Donald Trump.

Reza Khalili, a reporter for the Afghan Voice Agency, a news organization run by the center, said that the facility was a threestory building, with the news agency on the top floor, and the cultural center and a gathering hall in the basement.

“A suicide attacker entered the hall in the basement, where 150 to 200 people were gathered, and he blew himself up,” Khalili said. “Most of those killed were participants of the program.”