ASIA
Afghans search for loved ones after deadly bombing
Residents of the Afghan capital Kabul on September 30 went on desperate in search for family members after a suicide bomber detonated inside a classroom.
Taliban officials confirmed 20 dead, mostly students, and 27 wounded. However, two sources confirmed to Harici that 53 people, many of girl students and young women lost their lives and over 100 others received injuries.
The blast ripped through Kaaj Educational Center in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood in western Kabul, and hundreds were inside the class ahead of university entrance tests.
“Students were preparing for an exam when the blast occurred in the early morning,” Kabul Police Spokesman, Khalid Zadran said.
Ahmad, one of the students, told Harici that most of the casualties were among the girls, because they were seated in the front row in the class, near the blast. There were around 600 students in the class.
The family of a 19-years old girl who was victim of a suicide bomber mourns, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (AP)
An eyewitness said there was a loud explosion and then crowds of students rushed out of the center and people were scrambling to shift them to the nearby hospitals.
“Kabul ambulances reached the site late. They came after almost 30 minutes,” an eyewitness, Jaleel, told Harici. Girls and boys tried to escape the center and indeed it was a “horrific scene,” and all the students were so scared.
Spokesman for the Interior Ministry Abdul Nafy Takor said that a security team reached the site and called targeting civilians as the “enemy’s inhuman cruelty” and lack of moral standards.
Relatives flooded to nearby hospitals to find their sons and daughters
Many residents reached the education center but failed to find their loved ones. Relatives and friends then flooded to the nearby hospitals to find their sons and daughters “life or death”.
A woman, who was looking for his two children, said that she could find them. “My two children have not been found yet. I went to the educational center as well as three hospitals, but they were not in either of them,” the woman said. The children were later found dead.
In one of the hospitals, the Taliban members told the relatives of the victims to leave the area, fearing a follow-up attack on them.
Journalists were allowed to visit Kaaj education center
The Taliban on Friday evening, allowed the journalists to visit the education center. A correspondent from Harici reported that the windows and doors of the center were totally destroyed. The roof of the class, where students had gathered, also collapsed and the walls were covered with blood.
The Kaaj tuition center is a private college and teaches both male and female students to prepare them for university entrance exams.
Attacking education center a “shameful act”
The attack was also strongly condemned by the Afghan top officials, as well as the United Nations and the US.
“Targeting a room full of students taking exams is shameful; all students should be able to pursue an education in peace and without fear,” said Karen Decker, charge d’affaires at the US mission to Afghanistan.
“Amid deteriorating security in Afghanistan, Kabul was hit by another blast. Many civilian casualties in the callous attack at an education center in a Hazara and Shia-majority area,” UNAMA said in a tweet post.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but Hazaras have long faced persecution from the Islamic State (IS), also known as Daesh extremist group, which adhere to Sunni Islam.
IS has taken credit for a series of attacks on schools and hospitals in the Dasht-e-Barchi area. Before the return of the Taliban to power last year, a bomb attack on girls school again in Dasht-e-Barchi claimed the lives of at least 85 people, again majority of them were students and wounded hundreds more.
Hazaras, most of whom are Shia Muslim, are Afghanistan’s third largest ethnic group and many of them live in western part of Kabul, exactly where the blast took place.
Safeguarding education centers
Aftermath of bombing inside Kaaj educational center.
Fatim, a Kabul resident, whose daughter received injuries in the attack, called on the Taliban to ensure the safety of the public and punish those responsible for Friday’s attack.
“Security of schools and educational centers must be strengthened, and this is the duty of the Taliban,” she added.
UNICEF said that educational centers “must be havens of peace where children can learn, be with friends, and feel safe as they build skills for their futures.”
The agency called on all parties in Afghanistan to adhere to and respect human rights and ensure the safety and protection of all children and young people.
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