UPDATE - Suicide attack in Afghan capital claims multiple lives

UPDATES WITH DEATH TOLL, REACTION

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) - A suspected suicide attack at a facility hosting a news agency and a cultural center in the Afghan capital Kabul on Thursday has claimed multiple lives.

Nasrat Rehimi, deputy spokesman for the Interior Ministry, told Anadolu Agency more than 40 people, mostly civilians, were killed and several others injured.

“Most of them are civilians, boys and girls who had gathered today for a social gathering at the Tabyan Cultural Center,” he said.

According to local broadcaster Tolo News, the cultural center had links to Iran.

The office of the Afghan Voice Agency (AVA), which also housed a cultural facility in the western Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood, became target of the attack at 10:30 local time (0730GMT). The ethnic Shia Hazara community resides in the area which has been targeted by pro-Daesh militants in a number of similar attacks recently.

Hussain Husaini, head of the AVA, said in a post on his Facebook page that the attacker was on foot and detonated his explosive-laden vest upon entering the facility.

President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack in a statement. “The government in Afghanistan once again seriously stresses that there is a clear will to crush all terrorist groups," he said.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility.

The Taliban denied their involvement in a statement released by their spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed.

They had claimed the deadly attack on a bus carrying employees of Tolo News in January last year killing eight.