ISIS Claims Responsibility For Two Explosions In Shia Area Of Kabul

JAKARTA - The Islamic State terrorist group has again claimed responsibility for two explosions that hit a Shiite residential area in the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday that left at least one person dead and six others injured, including a woman.

The blast was the latest in a series of attacks in Kabul claimed by the Sunni militant group in recent days, with the Shiite area west of the city targeted several times.

The group also launched attacks on Shia mosques in the northern city of Kunduz and the southern city of Kandahar.

A car bomb explosion in Dasht-e Barchi, in western Kabul, killed a civilian and injured six others, interior ministry spokesman Qari Sayeed Khosty said in a Twitter post.

There is no confirmation of the number of victims. However, a Taliban official who spoke on condition of anonymity said seven people were killed and nine injured.

"Our initial information suggests the bomb was mounted on a minibus. We have launched an investigation," a Taliban official told AFP news agency, as quoted by DW.

"I heard a big explosion. When I looked around, a minibus and a taxi caught fire," he added.

A second explosion was reported near the Karte 3 area, local residents said. A Taliban official said security forces were still gathering information.

Images posted on social media showed a car destroyed by fire as well as twisted debris strewn across the road. ISIS claimed responsibility in a statement posted on an affiliated Telegram account.

The local affiliate of the radical Islamic State group ISIS Khorasan (ISIS-K) has emerged as a major security threat to the Taliban since the fall of Kabul in August. Increasing attacks across the country that have killed and injured hundreds.

The attacks have added to pressure on the Taliban government, which is grappling with a deepening economic crisis, and undermined its assertion that it had restored security in Afghanistan after decades of war.