Daesh claims responsibility for Kabul suicide attack

A suicide bomber on foot blew himself up in Kabul's Shia area on Friday, killing as many as 17 people and wounding many others, officials said, in the latest attack in the Afghan capital.

The Interior Ministry's deputy spokesman, Nasrat Rahimi, said a police officer was among the dead in the attack.

Hours later, Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack on its Amaq news agency without giving any evidence for its claim.

The blast occurred near a gathering to mark the 23rd anniversary of the death of Abdul Ali Mazari, a prominent former leader of the mainly Shia Hazara ethnic community who was killed by the Afghan Taliban.

Bomber fails to hit the target? 

Kabul police chief Mohammad Daud Amin told Tolo News that the bomber detonated his explosive device at a checkpoint "after being identified by police."

"The bomber failed to get inside to target the gathering," Amin said.

"An explosion happened and the person who was in front of me fell down, he was wounded, when I saw him falling down after the explosion, I ran back to the vicinity of the gathering," said Mirza Hussain, a witness. 

"The blast took place some two hundred metres away from the site of gathering but I don't know exactly what the type and cause of blast was," said Kazim Ali, another witness. 

Afghanistan's minority Shia, who are mostly Hazaras, have lately been frequently targeted in militant attacks, either by the Afghan Taliban or the Daesh-affiliate operating in Afghanistan.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at an international conference in Kabul last week unveiled a plan to open talks with the insurgents, including eventually recognising them as a political party.

In return, Ghani said the militants should officially recognise the Afghan government and constitution, a perennial sticking point in past attempts to open talks.

Talks with Afghan Taliban

The United States has also called on the insurgents to consider the offer of peace talks. Before Ghani's speech, Taliban had called for direct talks with the US. 

Kabul is one of the deadliest places in Afghanistan for civilians as both the Taliban and the expanding Daesh group step up their assaults on the city.

Despite the cautious optimism for a peace deal, Kabul remains on high alert, fearing further violence.