At least six people have been killed and 20 wounded in two bomb attacks at a boys’ school in Afghanistan on Tuesday April 18.
Explosives left outside of the Abdul Rahim Shahid school in the capital, Kabul, detonated as students and staff were coming out of morning classes, according to Afghan officials.
The Emergency NGO said that victims at their hospital were aged between 16 and 19 years old.
🔴 UPDATE from #Kabul: Our hospital has received 10 people wounded in the two explosions near two schools, all between 16 and 19 years old. 1 other victim was already dead on arrival. #Afghanistan #KabulExplosion
— EMERGENCY NGO (@emergency_ngo) April 19, 2022
An unnamed official told Reuters the explosive devices had been placed in backpacks.
Images show bloodied notebooks, and people washing dried blood from the floors.
“I was at work, my family called me, they were crying, and told me that a bomb blast happened next to our house,” a resident of the area told Reuters. “I left my job and came home in a hurry, and saw the crowd near my house, people were carrying the victims and other injured people.”
Currently, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The school is located in Dasht-e-Barchi, an area frequently targeted by the Islamic State for its large population of Hazara Shiite Muslims.
Witnesses say there was a third attack involving a grenade at a nearby tuition center for students on the same day, but authorities have not reported any casualties so far.
UN High Commissioner for Refugee, Filippo Grandi, extended condolences to Afghan families and called the attack “horrific and cowardly”.
I join @DeborahLyonsUN and @UNAMAnews in extending condolences to the families of those killed or injured in today’s horrific and coward attack against a Kabul school.
— Filippo Grandi (@FilippoGrandi) April 19, 2022
Afghanistan’s ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity is at great risk.
It must be respected and kept safe.
Last May, a car bomb detonated outside a girls’ school and killed at least 85 people, mostly girls.