UPDATE - Suicide attack targets Shia community in Kabul, kills 9

UPDATES DEATH TOLL, ADDS PRESIDENT'S CONDEMNATION, DAESH CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) - At least nine people were killed and more than 20 others injured in a suicide attack in capital Kabul on Friday, according to officials and local media reports.

Nusrat Rahimi, deputy spokesman for Interior Ministry, told Anadolu Agency the suspected bomber detonated his explosives at a security barrier in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood in western Kabul.

The Islamic Unity Party of Afghanistan belonging to the ethnic Shia community was marking the 23rd death anniversary of its slain leader Abdul Ali Mazari in the area when the blast took place, he added.

The death toll has risen to nine, Waheed Majroh, spokesman for the Health Ministry said.

Daesh claimed responsibility of the attack in a statement on its Amaq website.

The Afghan Shia community has been on the hit list of several terror groups in Afghanistan for several years.

President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani called the attack a crime against humanity. “The perpetrators deserve strongest sentence," he said in a statement.