Afghanistan: ISIS claims responsibility for suicide blast that killed dozens in Kabul

Dozens of Afghan citizens died Sunday simply because they wanted to vote.

Fifty-seven people were killed in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, when a suicide bomber set off an explosive vest at a voter registration center in a minority Shiite neighborhood.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the blast, saying it had targeted "apostates." The bloodthirsty Sunni terrorist group hates Shiites and opposes democratic elections.

In a statement, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called the attackers "savage terrorists," and vowed they would "never weaken the resolve and will of our people for wider participation in the democratic process."

More than 100 people were lined up to register late Sunday morning at the center in the Dasht-i-Barchi neighborhood, which is dominated by Shiites from the Hazara ethnic group.

They were guarded by just two policemen, said Haji Zaman, a tribal elder.

Zaman was standing near the line of people waiting to sign up to vote. A woman holding an ID photo she hoped would help get her registered approached him as the bomb went off, he said.

Afghans look at the devastation from the ISIS attack where scores of people were lined up to register to vote. (OMAR SOBHANI/REUTERS)

Zaman and the woman were knocked to the ground. The woman was wounded, but Zaman was not hurt.

He saw blood-spattered bodies everywhere, and bits of flesh caught in the trees.

Jawad, a 34-year-old man who goes by one name, said his ears rang for several minutes after the explosion.

He helped get bodies into ambulances, but said no additional security forces arrived until most of the victims had already been taken to hospitals.

Hours later, he stood by the blast site, holding a plastic bag containing the ID papers of someone he never met.

"The government has been calling on people to get registered and vote, and now I'm holding an ID and a voting card of a victim fallen in blood," Jawad said.

"Is this the way that the government promises to secure the voting process?"

By nightfall, the casualty toll stood at 57 dead and 119 wounded. The government said 22 of the dead were women and eight were children. Some of the dead children were students at a nearby high school.

"The tolls could still rise," said Wahid Majro, a spokesman for the Public Health Ministry.

Before the blast, Zaman said, he complained about the lax security at the center.

"I argued with policemen and some more people came to support me, saying there's no security outside the compound and people shouldn't gather there," Zaman said.

Terrorists also struck Sunday north of Kabul, when a truck ran over a roadside bomb in Puli Khomri, the capital of Baghlan province, killing at least five people.

An Afghan security forces member stands guard at the site of the Kabul suicide bombing. (OMAR SOBHANI/REUTERS)

Some reports said that blast also occurred near a voter registration site. No group claimed credit for the attack, but Taliban insurgents are known to be active in the area.

Tolo News, a local website, said three voter registration centers around Afghanistan were attacked before Sunday.

ISIS is on the run in Iraq and Syria, where it once controlled large swaths of territory.

But in Afghanistan, authorities have struggled to stop attacks by the terror group's local affiliate.

After an attack last year that killed two employees of the Iraqi embassy in Kabul, ISIS warned Shiites that it was coming after them.

Almost a month ago — during the Persian New Year — an ISIS suicide bomber attacked a Shiite shrine in Kabul, killing 31 and wounding 65.

Shiites make up about 15% of Afghanistan's 35 million people. Afghanistan's Sunni majority isn't interested in ISIS' call for a caliphate, and has historically gotten along well with the minority Shiites.

With News Wire Services