Kabul (dpa) – Eighteen people are in hospital after a shooting at a Kabul commemorative ceremony that sent attendees, including Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, scrambling for safety, the Interior Ministry reported on Friday.

Attendees had gathered for a ceremony in the city's west to mark the life of former Shia politica leader Abdul Ali Mazari when shots were fired from a nearby building, Interior Ministry spokesperson Nasrat Rahimi said via Whatsapp.

Special units have been dispatched to the area, Rahimi added.

Rahimi said all high-ranking officials had been evacuated safely from the scene.

Abdullah’s spokesperson, Fridoon Khawazoon, told dpa via phone that Abdullah had been evacuated safely along with other leaders present at the gathering.

“The situation is not clear yet,” Khawazoon said. “The target of the attack is not clear.”

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid denied involvement in the attack.

The shooting started as former jihadi leader and chairman of the High Peace Council, Karim Khalili, was delivering his remarks.

The same commemoration ceremony was attacked last year. Several people were killed and nearly a hundred wounded.

Mazari was the leader of the Hizb-e-Wadhat Party, a political party formed of Shia minorities during the civil war. Mazari was murdered by Taliban forces in 1995. He was given the title of "Martyr Of National Unity" in 2016