Gunmen killed 14 people in a Shia-majority area in central Afghanistan, the Taliban said on Friday, in one of the deadliest attacks in the country this year. Six other people were wounded in the assault.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility before the Taliban acknowledged the shootings, which took place on Thursday and targeted Hazara Shia people as they travelled between the provinces of Ghor and Daikundi. A machine gun was used in the assault, the IS group said. It gave a higher death toll than the Taliban.

The Iranian news agency IRNA quoted foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani as saying the group had targeted people welcoming Afghan Shias who were returning from visiting shrines in Iraq. He called for immediate action to punish those behind the crime.

The IS group’s affiliate in the country, a major rival to the Taliban, has challenged authorities’ grip on domestic security by attacking schools, hospitals, mosques and Shia areas in the past three years.

The Taliban’s chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid strongly condemned Thursday’s “barbaric action” and said authorities considered it their obligation to protect people and their property.