Two people killed and 22 injured in a bomb blast in a Shiite quarter KabulEight people died a day after a similar attack, according to Afghan police. Organization claimed responsibility for yesterday’s and today’s attack Islamic state.

Today, the bomb was hidden in a vase on the edge of a pedestrian street in a Shiite neighborhood in western Kabul, a police spokesman in the Afghan capital said.

The attacks come as the Shiite community prepares to celebrate Ashura, an important religious holiday during which worshipers gather in mosques and offer litanies.

The Shia community, consisting mainly of the Khazar community, they make up 10% to 20% of the Afghan population and are persecuted in that predominantly Sunni country.

Attacks in Afghanistan have declined since the Taliban took over a year ago, but a series of deadly bombings that killed dozens of people hit Afghanistan in late April, the month of Ramadan, and late May.

The Islamic State group, which mainly targets the Shiite minority, Sufis and Sikhs, claimed responsibility for most of the attacks. The Islamic State considers the Shiites to be heretics.

The Taliban claim they have defeated the Islamic State in Afghanistan, but analysts see the Sunni extremist group as the main security problem for the new Afghan government.

Source: APE/MEB