North Afghanistan religious school bombing kills, wounds several

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
30 Nov 2022 15:00
2 Shares

A Taliban Interior Ministry spokesperson says at least 10 students were killed in a blast at Al-Jihadi seminary in north Afghanistan.

An explosion at university preparatory academy in Kabul (Archive)

At least 16 people were killed and 24 others wounded on Wednesday in a blast at a religious school in Afghanistan's northern city of Aybak, a doctor at a local hospital said.

A doctor in Aybak, about 200 kilometers (130 miles) north of the capital Kabul, said the casualties were mostly youngsters.

"All of them are children and ordinary people," he told AFP, asking not to be named.

A provincial official confirmed the blast but could not provide casualty figures.

#BREAKING
At least 10 religious students died in today's blast in Samangan

Abdul Nafi Takur, spokesman of Taliban's interior ministry said that at least 10 students killed and many others wounded in a blast in Aybak city, Samangan but sources told Aamaj 15 killed and 28 injured. pic.twitter.com/lN9rjkUP58
— Aamaj News English (@aamajnews_EN) November 30, 2022

On his part, a Taliban Interior Ministry Spokesperson, Abdul Nafi Takor, tweeted that at least 10 students were killed in the blast at Al-Jihadi seminary.

Takor said the Taliban's security forces were investigating the attack and vowed to "identify the perpetrators and punish them for their actions."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But the Afghan affiliate of the Islamic State group has been waging a campaign of violence that escalated since the Taliban took power in August 2021.

IS has carried out bombings across Afghanistan targeting mosques and madrassas, especially ones connected to the Taliban. The Taliban and the Islamic State group both adhere to a hard-line ideology but are bitter rivals.

Local sources said the latest explosion targeted worshipers in time for noon prayer in Bandar Street in Aybak city.

There have been dozens of blasts and attacks targeting civilians since the Taliban movement returned to power in August 2021 after the hasty US withdrawal from the country, most claimed by the local chapter of the IS-K terrorist organization.

In early October, the United Nations mission in Afghanistan announced that the death toll from a suicide bombing that occurred in late September at an education center in the Afghan capital had increased to at least 43.