Afghanistan: Attack near girls' school in Kabul - at least 30 dead

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A bomb exploded near a girls' school in Kabul on Saturday.

According to the Afghan Interior Ministry, at least 30 people were killed and more than 50 others were injured.

According to this, numerous female students between the ages of eleven and 15 are among the victims.

The attack occurred at the end of the daily fast during Ramadan, when the girls were pouring out of school.

Apparently it was supposed to do maximum damage.

Ambulances had taken away the injured, while relatives and residents near the Sjed Al-Shahda school in the predominantly Shiite district of Dascht-i-Barchi reacted angrily to officials, said Interior Ministry spokesman Tarik Arian.

An angry crowd attacked the ambulances and even hit paramedics, said Health Ministry spokesman Ghulam Dastigar Nasari.

He called on the residents to cooperate and give the ambulances free access.

In the hospital, relatives try to identify the victims

Source: AP / Rahmat Gul

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Arian and Nasari said the number of victims could potentially increase.

Journalists from the AP news agency saw at least 20 bodies laid out and dozens injured in a nearby hospital.

Dozens of people lined up in front of the Mohammed Ali Dschinnah Hospital to donate blood.

Residents reported a deafening bang.

One of them, Nasser Rahimi, said he heard three explosions.

The sheer force of the detonation suggests the death toll will rise, he said.

"I was leaving school with my classmate when an explosion suddenly occurred," said 15-year-old Sahra.

She was hit by shrapnel that broke her arm.

"Ten minutes later there was another explosion and just a few minutes later there was another explosion," she said.

"Everyone was screaming and there was blood all over the place and I couldn't see clearly." Her friend was killed.

The at least 30 victims of the attack are apparently mostly schoolgirls

Source: REUTERS

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Initially, no one confessed to the attack.

The Taliban condemned the act, which was apparently directed against civilians, and rejected any responsibility for it.

Taliban spokesman Sabihullah Mujahid said that only the terrorist group Islamic State could be responsible for such a crime.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the act and accused the Taliban.

Secret services fear even more violence after the withdrawal of US troops

In the past, IS claimed attacks on the Shiite minority in the same area in the west of the Afghan capital. Last year, IS claimed responsibility for two attacks on educational institutions, killing 50, most of them schoolchildren. Last year, Washington blamed ISIS for an attack on a maternity hospital in the same area that killed pregnant women and newborns.

Only a few days ago, the 2,500 to 3,500 US soldiers still remaining in the country began to withdraw. According to US President Joe Biden, you should have left Afghanistan by September 11th at the latest. Observers fear a renewed increase in violence after the withdrawal of foreign troops. The US secret services see, among other things, women's rights in danger, should the Taliban come back to power nationwide.