A girl is removed from an ambulance by family members and medical personnel outside a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, on September 30, 2022, following a suicide bombing at a learning facility in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood of the Afghan capital. AFP via Getty
Kabul — At least 19 people were murdered when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in a school hall in the Afghan capital on Friday, authorities and witnesses reported. As the explosion ripped through the Kaaj Higher Educational Center, which primarily prepares adult men and women for university entrance exams, the majority of the victims were female.
“There were perhaps 600 students in the room. But the majority of casualties are female “Akbar, a student injured in the attack, said AFP from a hospital nearby.
The bombing occurred in the largely Shia Muslim district of Dasht-e-Barchi in western Kabul, home to the minority Hazara group, which has been the target of some of Afghanistan’s deadliest strikes.
“At this educational institution, students were prepared for an exam when a suicide bomber struck. Unfortunately, there have been 19 fatalities and 27 injuries “Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran stated.
30 September 2022: Taliban fighters stand watch near the site of a suicide bombing at a learning facility in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood of Kabul, Afghanistan. STR/AFP/Getty
A local shopkeeper stated that there was a loud explosion followed by the mass exodus of students from the center.
“It was chaos as numerous students, both male and female, attempted to flee the building. It was an awful scene. Everyone was terrified “he reported to AFP anonymously
Online videos and local media photographs depicted bloodied victims being transported away from the area.
“Security forces have reached the scene; the nature of the attack and the number of casualties will be disclosed later,” tweeted Abdul Nafy Takor, a spokesman for Egypt’s interior ministry. Attacking civilian targets demonstrates the enemy’s lack of humanity and morality.
Families flocked to surrounding hospitals, where victims arrived in ambulances and lists of confirmed fatalities and injuries were put on the walls.
A frightened woman searching for her sister at one of the hospitals told AFP, “We did not find her here.” “She was 19 years of age… We are calling her, but she does not answer.”
Families of victims were compelled to leave at least one hospital because Taliban members feared a follow-up attack on the crowd.
By Friday afternoon, the Taliban permitted media to visit the school.
An AFP correspondent observed that the hall where pupils had congregated for a test had a completely collapsed roof and blown-out doors and windows.
Municipal employees were scrubbing the floor, but dried blood and bits of flesh remained dispersed.
One year after U.S. troops withdrew from America’s longest war, many Afghans live in terror.
Last year’s return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan brought an end to a two-decade war and a major reduction in violence, but security has began to erode in recent months.
The Shiite Hazaras of Afghanistan have been persecuted for decades, with the Taliban allegedly abusing the group when they governed from 1996 to 2001.
After their return to power, such claims resurfaced.
Hazaras are also frequently attacked by the Taliban’s adversary, the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan. Each group views Hazaras as heretics.
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The Dasht-e-Barchi area has been ravaged by numerous attacks, several of which targeted women, children, and schools. Last year, prior to the return of the Taliban to power, at least 85 people, mostly female students, were killed and approximately 300 were injured when three bombs exploded near their school.
A year previously, ISIS claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a school in the same neighborhood that killed 24 people, including pupils.
In May 2020, the organization was implicated for a gun attack on a hospital maternity unit in Dasht-e-Barchi that resulted in the deaths of 25 persons, including new mothers.
And in April of this year, two fatal bombings at separate schools in the region killed six people and injured at least twenty others.
In Afghanistan, education is a contentious issue, with the Taliban preventing many girls from returning to high school. ISIS opposes the education of women and girls as well.
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