IS claims bombing targeting Shiites in north Afghanistan

The Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan has claimed responsibility for two bombings in the country’s north that targeted the country’s minority Hazara ethnic group

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan claimed responsibility on Friday for two bombings in the country's north that targeted the country’s minority Hazara ethnic group a day earlier.

The car bombings Thursday in Mazar-e-Sharif killed at least nine people and wounded 13 others, according to local Taliban officials. The Hazaras are mostly Shiite Muslims, who IS consider heretics. An IS statement said 30 Shiites were killed or wounded in the two attacks.

Afghanistan’s minority Shiite Muslims are reviled by Sunni radicals like IS, and have been targeted in a series of bombings in the past week. The IS affiliate known as IS in Khorasan Province, or IS-K, has attacked mosques, public buses, and schools.

The worst such bombing occurred last week, also in Mazar-e-Sharif, when a powerful bomb killed 33 worshippers as they knelt in prayer, as well as students of an adjacent religious school.