The Daesh* terrorist group has reportedly claimed responsibility for the deadly explosion near the Ali Abad hospital. The area was cordoned off by the police after the incident, according to other local news outlets.
READ MORE: Powerful Blast Hits Kabul, Presumably Targets Foreign Troops' Convoy — Reports
At least 29 people were killed, 52 more were injured in a blast in the Afghan capital, the Afghan Health Ministry’s spokesman told Sputnik on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, the Afghan Interior Ministry’s spokesman told Sputnik that the terrorist attacks left 26 people dead and 18 more injured. The spokesman said that a bomber had approached people heading to the Shiite mausoleum for the celebration of Nowruz before detonating the explosives.
The blast that took place near a Shiite shrine in the west of Kabul amid celebrations of the Nawruz holiday, marking the start of the Persian new year, comes just days after a suicide bomber detonated the bomb close to a compound housing foreign contractors in the capital, killing two people and injuring three others on March 17. The Taliban claimed the responsibility for the explosion.
Afghanistan has long been suffering political, social and security-related instability because of the simmering insurgency, including that of the Taliban, Daesh terrorist group and Daesh-affiliated groups.
*Daesh, also known as ISIS, Islamic State, IS is a terrorist group, banned in Russia.