Dozens killed in IS suicide attack in Kabul

An Islamic State suicide bomber killed at least 57 people including women and children and wounded dozens outside a voter registration centre in Kabul on Sunday.

It was the latest attack on preparations in the Afghan capital for legislative elections scheduled for October 20, seen as a test-run for next year's presidential poll. 

"It happened at the entrance gate of the centre. It was a suicide attack," Dawood Amin, Kabul police chief, told AFP.

The health and interior ministries initially put the death toll at 31, with 54 wounded.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the bombing via its propaganda arm Amaq.

The centre in a heavily Shia-populated neighbourhood in the west of the city was also being used by people to register for national identification certificates, which they need to sign up to vote.

Sheets of paper and passport-sized photos lay scattered amid shattered glass and pools of blood on the street near badly damaged cars - grim evidence of the force of the blast that drew international condemnation.

"This senseless violence shows the cowardice and inhumanity of the enemies of democracy and peace in Afghanistan," US ambassador John Bass wrote on Twitter. NATO also condemned the bombing.  

The last major attack in Kabul was on March 21 when an IS suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd celebrating the Persian New Year holiday and killed at least 33 people.

Anger 

A wounded man in a hospital bed wept as he told the Araia TV network: "I don't know where my daughters are. God damn the attackers!" 

Wounded Zahra, 8, is treated in hospital  [Getty]

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."

Photos posted on social media purportedly of the scene showed several bodies on the ground and a badly damaged two-storey building.

Elsewhere, a roadside explosion in the northern province of Baghlan on Sunday killed six people, including three women and two children. 

President Ashraf Ghani condemned both attacks as "heinous". 

Afghanistan began registering voters on April 14 for the long-delayed legislative elections.

Officials have acknowledged that security is a major concern because the Taliban and other militant groups control or contest large swathes of the country.