At least six people were killed in two explosions that hit a boys' school in a Kabul neighborhood largely populated by members of the Shiite Hazara community on Tuesday (April 19th).

This minority is regularly targeted by attacks in Afghanistan.

Two homemade bombs exploded in front of the Abdul Rahim Shahid school, located in the district of Dasht-e-Barchi, in the west of the capital, killing six people and injuring 11 according to a "preliminary" report. AFP Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran.

A third blast occurred at an English-language training center in the same neighborhood, he added, without saying whether it was also caused by an explosive device.

Class outing

Dasht-e-Barchi is home to many members of the Hazara minority, marginalized for centuries and regularly persecuted in this predominantly Sunni country.

The neighborhood has often been targeted by the Islamic State group.

The explosions occurred when the students were leaving class in the middle of the morning, told AFP a witness, who requested anonymity.

Horrifying images circulating on social media showed several bodies lying on the ground at the entrance to the compound, amid pools of blood, charred books and scattered school bags.

Victims were taken to hospital, but the Taliban prevented journalists from approaching them.

Security in the country has improved greatly since the Taliban took power in August and the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, after 20 years of attrition against their military presence.

But attacks, mainly claimed by the Islamic State-Khorasan (EI-K), the regional branch of the EI group, still occur regularly in the country.

Regular attacks against the Hazaras

In recent years, including since the return to power of the Taliban, the district of Dasht-e-Barchi has been hit by multiple attacks claimed by EI-K, which considers the Hazaras heretics.

In May 2021, a series of explosions occurred in front of a school for girls in this district, killing 85 people, mostly high school girls, and injuring more than 300.

First a car bomb exploded in front of the school, then two more bombs followed as students rushed outside.

The Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for an attack in October 2020 against an educational center (24 dead) in the same area, is strongly suspected of having carried out this attack.

In this same neighborhood, in May 2020, a group of armed men attacked a maternity hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders in broad daylight, killing 25 people, including 16 mothers, some of whom were about to give birth.

This attack had not been claimed, but the United States had accused the Islamic State group of being responsible.

Smaller attacks, claimed by ISIS, still took place in Dasht-e-Barchi in November and December 2021.

With AFP

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