At least 2 killed by blast in Shiite area of Kabul

KABUL — At least two people were killed and five wounded in a bomb blast that hit a minibus in Kabul today, officials says, the latest in a series of attacks in the Afghan capital.

The blast destroyed the vehicle in Dasht-e-Barchi, a Taliban official tells AFP, in a suburb dominated by minority Hazara Shiites.

“Our initial information shows the bomb was attached to a minibus. We have launched an investigation,” he says.

Different Taliban officials give varying accounts of the casualties.

An AFP staffer was near the scene when the bomb detonated.

“I heard a huge explosion… when I looked around a minibus and a taxi were on fire,” he says.

“I also saw ambulances rush to the area to take wounded and dead people to the hospital.”

Last week, a journalist was killed and at least four other people injured when a bomb destroyed another minibus in the same area.

The Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) group claimed responsibility for the attack, boasting it had killed or injured “20 Shiite apostates” in the incident.

They have stepped up operations since the Taliban’s return to power in August, and earlier this month raided the city’s National Military Hospital, killing at least 19 people and injuring more than 50 others.

The group has also claimed several attacks in the city of Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province and a hotbed of IS-K activity.