Move FM Global News

KABUL, Afghanistan – A suicide bomber struck a student education centre in Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul on Wednesday, leaving dozens of people dead and injured.

According to the police in Kabul, a suicide bomber entered the Mawoud Academy in west Kabul’s Dasht-e-Barchi area and detonated his bomb belt at about 16.00 local time (11.30 GMT), while classes were ongoing. 

The Dasht-e-Barchi area houses many of the members of the city’s mainly Shi’ite Hazara community. 

According to investigators, the bomber entered the centre from a rear entrance and made his way into a classroom where more than 100 students had gathered.

Officials pointed out that many of those killed were teenagers who had been attending extra training classes, as they prepared for university entrance exams. 

The police stated that the explosion set off gunfire from Afghan guards in the area, which led to beliefs that there were more attackers involved.

However, officials later said that all indications were that there was only one bomber.

Hashmat Stanikzai, police spokesman said, “We can confirm the attack was caused by a suicide bomber on foot. The bomber detonated himself inside the education centre.”

Waheed Majrooh, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s ministry of public health initially said that Wednesday’s attack in the Shia neighbourhood of Dasht-e-Barchi and left dozens injured. 

The Afghan health ministry initially stated that 48 people were killed, and 67 others were injured in the bombing but on Thursday, the toll was revised from 48 to 34 dead and 56 from 67 injured.

Afghan authorities said they had revised down the death toll as some bodies had been double-counted when they were being taken to the hospital from the blast site following the attack.

Afghanistan’s Shia community has been repeatedly targeted by Sunni Muslim extremists of the Islamic State group, which views the Shia practice of Islam as heretical.

A Shia community leader in the western Kabul, Abdul Hossain Hossainzada said that the bomber apparently targeted the course, which had young men and women studying together.

Further, Jawad Ghawari, a member of the city’s Shia clerical council, blamed the attack on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) militant group, which has carried similar attacks on mosques, schools and cultural centers in the past.

He added that in the past two years,  there were at least 13 attacks on the Shia community in Kabul alone.

The attack was not claimed by any group for hours. 

Later, the Taliban denied any involvement in the attack through a statement by the group’s spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid.

The Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the violence.

Officials meanwhile said that funerals have been planned for Thursday.