Crime & Justice

Death toll rises to 43 in bombing on Hazara college in Afghanistan

Kabul, Oct 3 (EFE).- The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan on Monday raised the casualties of the Friday suicide bombing at an educational center in Kabul to 43 dead and 83 wounded, days after the attack targeted members of the marginalized Shia Hazara community.

“Human toll from Friday’s college bombing in #Hazara neighborhood of Afghan capital continues to rise. 43 killed. 83 wounded. Girls & young women the main victims.” the UNAMA said in a statement, warning that the figures were “likely” to rise further.

The suicide attack took place on Friday morning inside one of the classrooms during a mock exam to prepare for university entrance exams, when the educational center was packed with both male and female students.

After several shots were heard, an armed assailant stormed the classroom through the girls’ door and blew himself up among the students, eyewitnesses told EFE.

So far no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which was condemned by both the Taliban and the international community, while women held protests against the bombing in different parts of Afghanistan.

The Taliban’s interim government, which has banned high-school education for girls but allows them to access universities, called the attack a “great horror.”

On Saturday, dozens of women came out on the streets of Kabul to protests attacks against the Hazara Shia minority.

The protesters alleged that the Taliban dispersed the protest by firing into the air and violence.

The Islamists also dispersed similar protests in the cities of Herat (west) and Bamyan (center) on Sunday.

Students, most of them women, had demonstrated in these cities against the attack, while demanding that the Taliban lift their ban on girls’ secondary education.

Attacks on students from the Hazara minority have become common in recent years in Afghanistan.

In May 2021, an attack on a girls school in the Dashte Barchi neighborhood left at least 110 dead, mostly girls, and 290 injured. Months earlier, another attack in October 2020 on a Hazara educational center killed 24 and injured 57.

The Islamic State (IS) terror group in Afghanistan has traditionally targeted Shias – who it considers to be apostates – and carried out several attacks against them.

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