An Islamic State suicide bomber killed at least 57 people including women and children and wounded 119 outside a voter registration centre in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday in the latest attack on election preparations. More than 50 others were injured in the blast which hit a crowd waiting at the entrance to the centre. This government should take responsibility for the lives of all these innocent people lost every day,” a man called Hussain, whose cousin was wounded in the blast, told AFP. Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danesh said a bomber on foot approached the centre where officials had been issuing identity cards as part of a process of registering voters for parliamentary elections this year. The centre in a heavily Shiite-populated neighbourhood in the west of the city was also being used by people to register for national identification certificates, which they need in order to sign up to vote. “I found myself covered in blood, with dead people — women and children — around me,” said Ali Rasuli, who had been standing in a queue outside the centre when he saw a “fireball” in front of him. God damn the attackers!”

A witness to the attack named Akbar told Tolo TV: “Now we know the government cannot provide us security: we have to get armed and protect ourselves.”

Elsewhere, a roadside explosion in the northern province of Baghlan on Sunday killed six people, including three women and two children. Afghanistan began registering voters on April 14 for the long-delayed legislative elections, which are seen as a test-run for the presidential poll next year. Election officials have acknowledged that security is a major concern as the Taliban and other militant groups control or contest large swathes of the country. Afghan police and troops forces have been tasked with protecting polling centres, even as they struggle to get the upper hand against militants on the battlefield. Militants on Friday launched rockets at a voter registration centre in the northwestern province of Badghis, killing a police officer and wounding another person. Voter registration centres have been set up across Afghanistan ahead of long-delayed parliamentary and district council elections due to be held in October and there have been serious concerns that militants might attack them.
A bomb explodes in a voter registration centre in Kabul killing at least 30 people and injuring approximately 50. Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant claim responsibility.