19 killed, 27 injured in Kabul educational center suicide bombing
Another devastating explosion has rocked Kabul, only this time, it targeted students taking an entrance exam.
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A scene from the blast site (AA)
Kabul's Kaaj educational center was the location of Friday's suicide bombing that left 19 killed and more than 20 injured. The official death toll is likely to rise, according to eyewitnesses.
The area in which the attack occurred has a majority population of Hazara, the ethnic minority group often targeted by the Islamic State.
Kabul police spokesperson Khalid Zadran confirmed the number of injuries amounting to 27 people, down after a revision of the 29 announced initially, adding that the blast occurred during the time when an entrance exam was being taken.
Schools and educational institutions are usually closed on Fridays in Afghanistan.
An xplosion happened inside Kaaj educational centre in west Kabul and targeted the Hazara minority of Afghanistan. According to the people in the area, the number of casualties is high and most of them are teenagers.
— Pashto __ Ghazaal (@Pashto__Ghazzal) September 30, 2022
😭🇦🇫🤲 @ZiauddinY @bsarwary @a_siab @mjdawar @mazdaki pic.twitter.com/rZXMwTTE1l
Zadran said, "Attacking civilian targets proves the enemy's inhuman cruelty and lack of moral standards." As of now, no claim of responsibility has been confirmed or announced.
Ghulm Sadiq, a local resident, said he was at home when the explosion rocked the town, so he went outside and saw smoke rising from the education center. The town residents rushed to the explosion site to offer help.
"My friends and I were able to move around 15 wounded and 9 dead bodies from the explosion site ... other bodies were lying under chairs and tables inside the classroom," he said.
A suicide explosion at an education institute in #Afghanistan's capital of #Kabul reportedly killed 19 people and injured 29 more pic.twitter.com/fju5eUxUrN
— Ghulam Abbas Shah (@ghulamabbasshah) September 30, 2022
In the most recent months leading up to this attack, a string of attacks and bombs have targeted civilian areas, infrastructures, and even religious centers, most of which were claimed by IS-K. Just in September, four people were killed and 10 injured after an explosion occurred near a Kabul mosque last week. Another on September 2 left 18 dead after a major explosion rocked the Herat district's largest mosque, killing the mosque's imam.
Back on August 18, at least 35 were victims of an explosion that occurred at a mosque north of Kabul, and five days earlier, at least three people were killed and several others were wounded as a result of a blast in the National Statistic and Information Authority (NSIA) in Kabul as well.
On August 6, a bomb exploded in Kabul, killing 8 civilians in a heavily residential area according to an Afghani official. The bomb was attached to a handcart loaded with vegetables in an area where residents buy their daily groceries.
Even as far back as 2020, teenage students were among the 24 people killed in a 2020 attack claimed by Islamic State at an education center in west Kabul.
