KABUL    -    The Islamic State (IS) militant group claimed responsibility for a deadly blast on Friday in a Shi’ite residential area in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul.

Police said at least eight people were killed and 18 wounded in the blast. The militant group said in a statement that 20 people were killed and injured in the attack in western Kabul. “The explosion happened in a crowded place,” police spokesman Khalid Zadran said.

Video posted on social media purportedly of the blast site showed men rushing to help the injured after the incident. A senior Taliban security official, who declined to be named, said primary investigations revealed that explosives were placed in a vegetable cart and the blast resulted in the wounding and killing of more than 50 people, including women and children. “There is a possibility that the death toll will increase because most of the wounded people had critical wounds,” he said.

The Islamic State Khorasan (ISKP) claimed the bomb attack in a Shia procession in Karez area of Kabul city. They also claimed scores of people have been killed in the attack.