35 killed, 82 wounded in Afghanistan suicide bomb attack

The death toll from Friday's suicide bombing at an educational centre in a neighbourhood in western Kabul, where mainly members of the discriminated Hazara Shiite community live, rose to 35 on Saturday and the number of injured to 82.

The latest figures from the attack on an educational centre in western Kabul "show at least 35 dead and 82 wounded", mostly "girls and young women", the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said on Twitter.

The suicide bombing occurred on Friday morning inside one of the classrooms during a practice exam in preparation for university entrance exams, when the school was crowded with male and female students.

After hearing several gunshots, a gunman entered the classroom through the girls' door and blew himself up among the students, eyewitnesses told Efe.

The attack provoked dozens of women to take to the streets of Kabul on Saturday to show their rejection of the attacks on this targeted minority in the country, although they were soon repressed with gunfire from the Taliban.

For the moment, no terrorist cell has claimed responsibility for the attack, although the jihadist group Daesh has in the past claimed numerous attacks in Afghanistan against this minority, which it considers apostate.

Attacks against students from the Hazara minority have become commonplace in Afghanistan in recent years. The latest, last April, killed at least six and wounded 25, although Taliban control of information made it impossible to obtain a clear figure, with some witnesses putting the number of casualties higher. In May 2021, an attack on a girls' school in the Dashte Barchi neighbourhood left at least 110 dead, mostly girls, and 290 injured. Months earlier, another attack in October 2020 on a minority school killed 24 people and injured 57.

Since coming to power in August 2021, the Taliban have launched several operations against Daesh in various parts of the country, eager to show that their return had also meant the end of violence.

The guarantee of security and control of jihadism was one of the Taliban's main demands in the territories under their control during the war with the deposed government and international forces.