At least 42 children injured in Afghan school blast – UN

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A blast at an education centre in Kabul has injured at least 42 children, the UN mission in Afghanistan said Tuesday, without elaborating on the cause of the explosion.

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Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, earlier condemned a “heinous attack” near a school in Kabul’s western Dasht-e-Barchi area, which is home to the historically persecuted Shiite Hazara community.

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The victims of Monday’s blast are aged nine to 14, according to the UN mission, UNAMA.

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“UNAMA have not yet confirmed the circumstances of the explosion,” a spokesman told AFP, citing “conflicting reports of either an attack or unexploded ordnance”.

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Decades of conflict have left Afghanistan littered with the explosive remnants of war, with the country registering the third-highest casualty rate globally according to the United Nations.

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Afghanistan’s Directorate of Mine Action Coordination, which has investigated the scene, said a grenade had exploded at the school on Monday afternoon, matching details earlier provided by the Kabul police.

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“Our thoughts are with the children injured and their families,” UNAMA said.

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“We call for an investigation to establish the circumstances of this incident. Schools and education centres must be kept safe.”

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The private primary school posted a message on its Facebook page asking people to “pray for the injured”, without providing further details.

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The blast happened just as the children were being dismissed, a 38-year-old resident who lives nearby told AFP.

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“There were so many wounded people that I couldn’t count them,” she told AFP on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

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There have been sporadic attacks in Kabul over the past five years of Taliban government rule, including an explosion at a central Chinese restaurant in January which killed at least seven people.

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There have been multiple deadly blasts in the Dasht-e-Barchi area, including a car bomb outside a girls’ school in 2021 that killed at least 90 people and wounded hundreds more.

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The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for attacks in Dasht-e-Barchi, targeting Shiites who they consider heretics.

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AFP

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