KABUL, Afghanistan — At least 41 people were killed and dozens more wounded on Thursday in a bombing at a Shiite cultural center in Kabul that also houses a news agency, Afghan officials said. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack.

It was the latest in a series of mass-casualty attacks against Shiite targets by the militant group’s Afghan affiliate. The United Nations mission in Afghanistan has documented more than a dozen attacks since January 2016, with hundreds of Shiites dead or wounded. One of the deadliest was in October, when suicide bombers killed at least 57 worshipers in a Shiite mosque in Kabul, the capital, and injured dozens more.

“I have little doubt that this attack deliberately targeted civilians,” said Toby Lanzer, the acting head of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan. “Today in Kabul we have witnessed another truly despicable crime in a year already marked by unspeakable atrocities.”

In the assault on Thursday, one suicide bomber entered the Tebyan cultural center during a group discussion for the anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and then detonated his explosive vest, said Sadiq Muradi, Kabul’s deputy police chief. Two improvised explosive devices placed nearby went off shortly after that, officials said.