At least 55 killed in bomb attack at school in Kabul – VG

The death toll after the bombing west of Kabul is rising, writes Reuters on Saturday night.

At least 55 people lost their lives in the explosions – in addition, more than 150 were injured, according to Afghan officials.

Most of the victims were students at the school, according to an anonymous official in the Interior Ministry.

It was at 4.30pm local time that the explosions went off at the Syed Al-Shahda school – a school boys and girls go to in different shifts.

The girl change was at school when the bombs went off. Several students who are said to have been on their way out of it were killed.

In addition, several people were seriously injured, the anonymous official told the news agency.

Many of the victims are schoolchildren aged eleven to 15, according to the authorities.

Books and sacks were strewn

“It was an explosion from a car bomb that went off at the entrance to the school,” a witness on the spot told Reuters.

According to the witness, all the victims were around seven to eight people, girls who were on their way home from school.

Books and schoolbags were strewn around the bloody road outside the school, while neighbors flocked to help the victims, TV images from the Afghan channel Tolo News show.

In photos from the place you can see young people who are badly injured. Other photos show the dead lying in a row under white shrouds in a hospital.

The attack happened at the same time as many were out shopping for the ID celebration next week, writes NTB. The holiday marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.

See more photos after the explosion in the gallery below – note – strong photos:

Blame the Taliban

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has already blamed the Taliban insurgency, which controls much of Afghanistan.

“By escalating their illegal war and violence, the Taliban have once again shown that they are not only reluctant to peacefully and fundamentally resolve the current crisis, but are making the situation more complicated,” Ghani said.

However, a Taliban spokesman denied that the group was involved in the incident and condemned it, writes Reuters.

According to Tolo News There were at least three explosions near the school located in the Dasht-e-Barchi area, west of Kabul – a neighborhood where most of the inhabitants are Shia Muslims.

– An explosion from a car bomb went off first, then followed more than two explosions near the girls’ school, said a teacher, according to the channel.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the blast.

BACKGROUND: Fear in Kabul: – The Taliban is ready to take over

The area where the school is located has in recent years often been hit by attacks from IS fighters, according to Reuters.

The news agency writes that Kabul is on standby after Washington in April announced plans to withdraw all American troops by 9/11.

Updated figures from Reuters Reaffirms ever-increasing confrontations between the Taliban and Afghan security forces In the wake of the US decision to withdraw from the country: In the last three weeks alone, more than a hundred people from Afghan security forces have been killed in Taliban attacks.

Last Friday was 24 civilians killed and 110 wounded in a car bomb attack in Logar province in Afghanistan.

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