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The wrestling mats were splashed with blood, sports bags and bottles of water still scattered Thursday, a few hours after the double bombing that hit the Maiwand Sports Club in Kabul, killing at least 26 people .
A regular training session on Wednesday afternoon turned into a massacre when a suicide bomber shot a young unarmed guard at the entrance before blowing himself up near dozens of wrestlers , some of whom were as young as 10 years old.
An hour later, a car stuffed with explosives exploded outside the club, apparently targeting reporters and emergency workers gathered at the scene.
Two journalists from Tolo News, Afghanistan's largest private broadcaster, were among the dead. Four media workers were injured.
"There were dead and wounded everywhere," 14-year-old wrestler Sayed Rohullah told AFP from his bed at Isteqlal Hospital, where dozens of people were wounded.
"Everyone was covered in glass and shiny pieces and shouted to their loved ones.
"After the explosion, I did not feel my legs."
Most deaths were caused by severe burns and shrapnel, doctors said.
Ali Seena, 20, said the wrestlers were in training session when they heard shots outside. He did not see the kamikaze entering the room, but he felt the "shrapnel" as he pierced his abdomen.
"I felt a lot of pain after the blast," said Seena, whose right hand was also hit by pieces of metal.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the latest attack, which, according to Afghan ministries of health and the interior, killed at least 26 people and wounded 91.
Maiwand club director Pahlawan Shir said she feared the death toll would be much higher.
At the time of the attack, 150 people were in the lobby of the highly Shia neighborhood.
"Some people have already brought their martyrs home, and I'm still looking for many missing students and coaches."
The club's employee, Eid Mohammad Assad, said he saw a vehicle parked near the entrance while he was carrying dead and wounded.
"We were busy … and then the second explosion happened," said Assad, 50, who escaped his injuries.
– "Callous attack" –
Relatives, friends and colleagues in mourning have begun the difficult process of burying their loved ones on Thursday morning in dusty, barren cemeteries around the city – rituals that have become too familiar to Afghans tired of the war.
The attack was largely condemned by Afghan and foreign officials.
"This latest act of cynical terror targeting ordinary citizens of Kabul, as well as first responders and journalists, is deeply shocking," said Tadamichi Yamamoto, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan.
"We join the Afghans in expressing our repulsion at such an attack."
EI considers Shia Muslim apostates and has intensified its attacks on the minority group in recent years.
The last major attack on Shiites in Kabul took place on August 15, when a suicide bomber blew himself up in an education center, killing dozens of students.
The group said it was behind the attack, which sparked international condemnation and occurred in a context of deadly violence across the country.
A suicide bomber in a gym in Kabul has targeted many wrestlers, some as young as 10 years old.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the latest attack, which, according to Afghan ministries of health and the interior, killed at least 26 people and wounded 91 of them.
