According to reports, at least three blasts rocked a boys’ school in Afghanistan today. There has been a confirmation of at least six deaths and more than a dozen injured in the blasts. The explosions took place in a boys’ school in a Hazara Shia neighborhood of the capital Kabul.
The blasts were triggered by improvised explosive devices, Kabul police spokesperson Khalid Zadran told AFP. He also mentioned another blast in the same region at an English language centre, but declined to say if it was caused by explosives.
According to Zadran, two improvised explosive devices were positioned outside the two-story Abdul Rahim Shahid high school in the Dasht-e-Barchi area’s western suburb.
It is notable that Dasht-e-Barchi is predominantly inhabited by the Hazara people, an ethnic and religious minority that has previously been targeted by Sunni terrorist organisations such as the Islamic State. Hazaras make up between 10% and 20% of Afghanistan’s 38 million residents.
The explosions occurred when the kids were leaving their lessons. As of now, no terrorist organisation has claimed credit for the incident.
The Taliban’s recent ascension to power in Afghanistan has heightened the dread of the Hazara population, who had previously been targeted by ISKP. The Islamic State of Khorasan Province adheres to hardline Sunni doctrine and has been implicated in a number of terrorist actions, including a bombing at Kabul International Airport on August 26, 2021, which killed 13 US soldiers. ISKP is the branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) that operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan.