A suicide bomber killed 26 people and wounded 18 others in an explosion near Kabul university as people gathered to celebrate a New Year festival.

The blast happened on the road toward the Sakhi shrine where people gather to celebrate the Persian New Year festival, a spokesman for the Kabul police chief said.

The Persian new year, known in Afghanistan as Nauruz, is a national holiday.

The country's minority Shiites typically celebrate by visiting shrines.

Afghanistan is home to a powerful Islamic State affiliate that has repeatedly targeted Shiites, who the extremists view as apostates deserving of death.