Suicide blast kills 19 at Kabul education centre

KABUL: A suicide attack at a learning centre in the Afghan capital killed 19 people as students prepared for exams on Friday morning, police said.

The blast happened in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood of western Kabul, home to the minority Hazara community, the scene of some of Afghanistan’s most deadly attacks.

"Students were preparing for an exam when a suicide bomber struck at this educational centre. Unfortunately, 19 people have been martyred and 27 others wounded," police spokesman Khalid Zadran said.

Videos posted online and photos published by local media showed bloodied victims being carried away from the scene.

"Security teams have reached the site, the nature of the attack and the details of the casualties will be released later," the interior ministry spokesman Abdul Nafy Takor earlier tweeted.

"Attacking civilian targets proves the enemy’s inhuman cruelty and lack of moral standards."

The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan last year brought an end to the two-decade war and a significant reduction in violence, but security has begun to deteriorate in recent months.

Last year, before the return of the Taliban, at least 85 people -- mainly girl students -- were killed and about 300 wounded when three bombs exploded near their school in Dasht-e-Barchi.

No group claimed responsibility, but a year earlier Daesh claimed a suicide attack on an educational centre in the same area that killed 24, including students.

In May 2020, the group was blamed for a bloody gun attack on a maternity ward of a hospital in the neighbourhood that killed 25 people, including new mothers.

And in April this year, two deadly bomb blasts at separate education centres in the area killed six people and wounded at least 20 others.