Islamic State group claims Kabul suicide attack that killed at least 6

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Islamic State group claimed responsibility Tuesday for this week’s suicide bombing at a prosecutor’s office in Kabul that killed at least six people and injured 13.

The group said in a statement on its news outlet Amaq that the assailant detonated his explosive-laden vest Monday as investigators and other employees were leaving work, in an attack to avenge people detained in prisons run by the country’s Taliban government.

IS claimed the blast killed 45 people, a far higher number of victims than the death toll of six given Monday by Taliban officials following the blast in the capital’s southwestern Qala Bakhtiar neighborhood. Officials of the Taliban government were not immediately available for comment on the IS claim.

After the blast, Taliban security forces had cordoned off the area and prevented journalists and other people from approaching the site.

Extremists in Afghanistan have increased their assaults since the Taliban takeover of the country in 2021. Targets have included Taliban patrols and members of the country’s Shiite minority.

Six of the men injured in Monday’s blast were taken to a surgical center in Kabul run by the humanitarian group Emergency NGO, where two of them had to undergo major surgery, group director Dejan Panic said.