By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
September 30, 2022
A suicide bombing struck an education center in a predominantly Shi’ite neighborhood of the Afghan capital on September 30, killing 19 people and wounding 27, a Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Kabul police chief said.
The explosion inside the center in the Dashti Barchi neighborhood populated by Hazaras, a mostly Shi’ite ethnic minority, occurred in the morning hours, said spokesman Khalid Zadran. The explosion occurred in a classroom packed with students, he added.
Witnesses told RFE/RL that the assailant targeted the guard of the educational center before blowing himself up in the classroom.
Around 150 students were reportedly present inside the center.
The victims included high school graduates who were taking a practice university entrance exam when the blast went off, Zadran said.
The Kaaj Higher Educational Center coaches mainly adult male and female students ahead of university entrance tests.
Zabihullah Haidari, a teacher at the center, told RFE/RL that “a suicide attacker came and fired at guards at the gate. The attacker also fired at people inside the educational center and several people were killed in the shooting. Then he entered a class where students were taking an exam and blew up his explosive vest. Most of the victims were girls.”
The bombing is the latest incident in a continuous stream of violence since the Taliban seized power last year in August. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
The extremist Islamic State group has in the past targeted the Hazara community, including in Dashti Barchi.
“Our teams have been dispatched to the site of the blast to find out more details,” Abdul Nafi Takor, a Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said earlier.
With reporting by AP and AFP
Copyright (c) 2022. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
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