Suicide attacker kills at least 19 in Afghanistan school blast | Taliban News

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At least 27 others wounded in the explosion at the Kabul education centre in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood.

A suicide bomber attacked an educational institute in the Afghan capital, killing at least 19 people.

As many as 27 others were wounded in the blast early Friday, which occurred in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood of western Kabul, a predominantly Shia-Muslim area home to the minority Hazara community, according to police spokesman Khalid Zadran.

“Students were preparing for an exam when a suicide bomber struck at this educational centre. Unfortunately, 19 people have been martyred and 27 others wounded,” he said.

Videos posted online and photos published by local media showed bloodied victims being carried away from the scene.

The victims included high school graduates, both girls and boys, who were taking a practice university entrance exam when the blast went off, Zadran said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

“Security teams have reached the site, the nature of the attack and the details of the casualties will be released later,” interior ministry spokesman Abdul Nafy Takor tweeted.

“Attacking civilian targets proves the enemy’s inhuman cruelty and lack of moral standards.”

Further details of the attack were not immediately available, although ethnic Hazara, who have alleged years of persecution by the ruling Taliban, which returned to power in the country following the withdrawal of US-led forces in August of 2021.

Dasht-e-Barchi has witnessed some of the worst attacks in Afghanistan in recent years.

In 2021, prior to the Taliban takeover, at least 85 people – mostly female students – were killed and about 300 others wounded when three bombs exploded near their school in Dasht-e-Barchi.

No group claimed responsibility for that attack, but a year earlier, the armed group ISIL (ISIS) claimed responsibility a suicide attack on an educational centre in the same area that killed 24, including students.

In April this year, two deadly bomb blasts at separate education centres in the area killed six people and wounded 20 others.

Education remains a flashpoint issue in Afghanistan with the Taliban blocking many girls from returning to secondary education. The rival ISIL also stand against the education of women and girls.