Death toll in Kabul attack on educational center rises to 35

Kabul, Oct 1 (EFE).- The death toll from a suicide bombing on an educational center in western Kabul, home to a large Shiite Hazara community, has risen to 35, according to a statement published on Saturday from the United Nations mission in the country.

The report added that at least 82 others were wounded in Friday’s attack at the Kaj education center in the Dasht-e-Barchi area.

According to the UN-led mission, the majority of casualties are girls and young women.

“All names need documenting and remembering and justice must be done.” the report added.

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 hearing several shots, an armed assailant stormed the classroom through the girls’ door and blew himself up among the students, eyewitnesses told Efe.

The attack sparked a demonstration of dozens of women in downtown Kabul on Saturday to condemn the attacks on the Hazara minority, but mobilizations were soon quashed forcibly by Taliban forces.

No terrorist cell has claimed responsibility for the attack, although the local Islamic State affiliate has in the past claimed numerous attacks in Afghanistan against the Shiite minority group, which it considers apostate.

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

An attack in April claimed six lives and 25 injuries, although the Taliban’s control of data meant obtaining reliable information was obstructed and some witnesses said the death toll was higher.

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.

Since coming to power in August 2021, the Taliban have launched several operations against IS in various parts of the country.

When the Taliban seized power, following a foreign troop withdrawal in August 2021, it pledged to ensure stability in the country after a drawn-out 20-year war, but an uptick in terrorist violence has undermined the Taliban’s strategy. EFE

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