The Islamic State group said it carried out a gun and bomb attack on a Shiite mosque in Kabul on Friday that killed at least 39 people, including children.

"The martyrdom-seeking brother Abu Ammar al-Turkmani ... succeeded in immersing himself with an explosive vest in a temple of the polytheists," IS said in a message on Telegram.

"He detonated his vest among the crowd."

The Sunni extremists of IS have carried out a spate of bombings against Shiite worshippers, whom it regards as apostates.

The attack, which was one of two targeting mosques in Afghanistan on Friday, capped one of the country's bloodiest weeks in recent memory, with more than 180 people killed