An explosion near a school in the Shia district of Dasht-e-Barchi, west of Kabul, in Afghanistan has left about 58 people, including school girls, dead and at least 150 injured on Saturday evening. No group has so far claimed responsibility of this blast. Kabul has been on alert ever since the United Stated announced plans last month to pull out all its troops by September 11.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack and blamed, without any proof, the Taliban. “The Taliban by escalating their illegitimate war and violence have once again shown that they are not only reluctant to resolve the current crisis peacefully and fundamentally, but by complicating the situation,” he said. However, the Taliban has denied any responsibility and condemned the attack.
The blast took place in a neighborhood that has been frequently attacked by ISIS fighters over the years. The radical Sunni Muslim group, known to have attacked this neighborhood earlier, has declared war on Afghan’s minority Shiite Muslims. Najiba Arian, spokeswoman for the education ministry, told Reuters that the Syed Al-Shahda is a joint high school for girls and boys, who study in three shifts, the second of which is for the female students.
A Naser Rahimi, told The Associated Press that he heard three separate explosions and said the sheer power of the explosion meant the death toll would almost certainly climb. He said the explosion went off as the girls were streaming out of the school at around 4.30pm local time.
One of the students fleeing the school recalled the attack, screams of girls and blood. 15-year-old Zahra, whose arm had been broken by a piece of shrapnel, said she was with classmates. “We were leaving the school, when suddenly an explosion happened. Ten minutes later there was another explosion and just a couple of minutes later another explosion. Everyone was yelling and there was blood everywhere, and I couldn’t see anything clearly.”
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Condemning the attack, the European Union mission in Afghanistan described it as “horrendous”. “This is a despicable act of terrorism,” the mission said. “Targeting primarily students in a girl’s school makes this an attack on the future of Afghanistan. On young people determined to improve the country.”
Regional experts believe the bombing is aimed to cause maximum civilian carnage. This adds to fears that violence in the war-wrecked country could escalate as the US and NATO end nearly 20 years of military engagement.
