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ISIS Claims Attack on Kabul Shiite Center, 41 Dead

CBN

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At least 41 people have been killed and another 84 are seriously hurt after a terror attack Thursday in the Afghanistan capital of Kabul. 

Officials say three bombs were used in the attack, along with a single suicide bomber who blew himself up inside a Muslim cultural center. 

Eyewitnesses say many of the victims were students who had gathered at the center to mark the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by the former Soviet Union.

Explosions outside the building, which also houses the pro-Iranian Afghan Voice news agency, may have targeted the agency. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Ali Reza Ahmadi, a journalist with the Afghan Voice, told the Associated Press he was in his office when the explosion shattered the building. He leapt from his second-story office to the roof of the building where he saw flames from the basement.    

"I jumped from the roof toward the basement yelling at people to get water to put out the fire," he said.

This is the second attack this week in Kabul. Earlier this week, at least 10 people were killed after a suicide bomber blew himself up near a national security office.

ISIS also claimed responsibility for that attack. 

Afghan president Ashraf Ghani called the attack a "crime against humanity."

In a statement released by the presidential palace, Ghani said, "The terrorist have killed our people. The terrorists have attacked our mosques, our holy places and now our cultural center." He called the attacks against Islam and "all human values."

In a statement, the US ambassador to Afghanistan, John R. Bass, called the attack "horrific" and said "we remain confident the Afghan government and people, supported by their friends and partners, will defeat those behind these terrible acts."

ISIS issued a warning earlier this year following an attack on the Iraqi Embassy in Kabul, vowing to target Afghanistan's Shiites. 

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