Taliban say suicide bombing in Shiite area of Kabul kills 19, wounds 27

Taliban fighters (again middle) stand guard as folks collect to seek for kin exterior a hospital following the explosion in Kabul on Sept. 30, 2022.
AFP through Getty Pictures

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber struck an schooling middle in a Shiite space of the Afghan capital on Friday, killing 19 folks and wounding 27, a Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Kabul police chief stated.

The explosion inside the middle within the Dashti Barchi neighborhood of Kabul — populated principally by members of Afghanistan’s minority Shiite group — befell within the morning hours, stated the spokesman, Khalid Zadran.

The victims included highschool graduates, each ladies and boys, who have been taking a follow college entrance examination when the blast went off, Zadran stated. The middle is named the Kaaj Increased Academic Heart and helps college students put together and examine for faculty entrance exams, amongst its actions.

The explosion that killed 19 and wounded 27 befell on the schooling middle within the Dashti Barchi neighborhood of Kabul on Sept. 30, 2022.

AP

Zadran stated schooling facilities within the space might want to ask the Taliban for extra safety once they host occasions with huge gatherings, such because the examine prep on Friday.

The suicide bombing was the newest in a gradual stream of violence for the reason that Taliban seized energy. Nobody instantly claimed duty for the assault

The Islamic State group — the chief rival of the Taliban since their takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 — has up to now focused the Hazara group, together with in Dashti Barchi.

“Our groups have dispatched on the web site of the blast to search out out extra particulars,” Abdul Nafi Takor, a Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Inside Ministry, stated earlier.

The U.S. chargé d’affaires for Afghanistan, Karen Decker, condemned the assault in a tweet.

“Focusing on a room full of scholars taking exams is shameful; all college students ought to be capable of pursue an schooling in peace & with out worry,” she stated. “We hope for a swift restoration for the victims & we grieve with the households of the deceased.”

Afghanistan’s Hazaras, who're principally Shiite Muslims, have been the goal of a brutal marketing campaign of violence for the previous a number of years, blamed on the regional affiliate of the Islamic State group. Militants have carried out a number of lethal assaults in Dashti Barchi, together with a horrific 2020 assault on a maternity hospital that killed 24 folks, together with new child infants and moms.