Dozens die as suicide bombers set off explosions outside and in basement of Kabul cultural centre

An attack on a Shiite Muslim cultural centre in the Afghan capital Kabul has left at least 35 people dead and 20 wounded.

Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said an unknown number of suicide attackers set off an explosion outside the centre before storming it.

They then set off explosive devices in the basement of the building where scores of people had gathered to mark the December 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by the former Soviet Union.

The centre is located in the Shiite-dominated Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood in the west of the capital.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but the Islamic State group affiliate in Afghanistan has claimed several brutal attacks on Shiites in recent months in Kabul.