Families bury Kabul blast victims as toll rises to 68
Pope calls the atack an ‘inhuman act;’ security intensified but authorities say they would not be able to provide security to all schools, mosques and other public places
The death toll from a bomb atack outside a school in the Afghan capital, Kabul, has risen to 68, officials said on Sunday, with doctors struggling to care for 165 injured victims and families searching desperately for missing children.
Explosions on Saturday evening shook the neighbourhood of Dasht-e-barchi, home to a large community of Shi’ites from the Hazara ethnic minority which has been targeted in the past by Daesh, a militant group.
A car bomb was detonated in front of the Sayed Al Shuhada school and two more bombs exploded when students rushed out in panic.
Officials said most of those killed were schoolgirls.
Some families were still searching hospitals for their children.
“The first blast was powerful and happened so close to the children that some of them could not be found,” said an Afghan official.
An eyewitness said all but seven or eight of the victims were schoolgirls going home ater finishing their studies.
On Sunday, civilians and policemen collected books and school bags strewn across a bloodstained road now busy with shoppers ahead of celebrations for Eid Al Fitr next week.
President Ashraf Ghani on Saturday blamed Taliban insurgents but a spokesman for the group denied involvement and condemned any atacks on Afghan civilians.
Pope Francis called the atack as “inhuman act” in remarks to pilgrims in St Peter’s Square in Vatican City on Sunday.
United Nations Secretary-general Antonio Guterres also condemned the atack and expressed his deepest sympathies to the victims’ families and to the Afghan government and people.
Families of the victims blamed the government and Western powers for failing to put an end to violence and the ongoing war.
Bodies were still being collected from morgues as the first burials were conducted in the west of the city.
Some families were still searching for missing relatives on Sunday, gathering outside hospitals to read names posted on the walls, and checking morgues.
“The entire night we carried bodies of young girls and boys to a graveyard and prayed for everyone wounded in the atack,” said Mohammed Reza Ali, who has been helping families of the victims at a private hospital.
“Why not just kill all of us to put and end to this war?” he said.
Security was intensified across Kabul ater the atack but authorities said they would not be able to provide security to all schools, mosques and other public places.
On Twiter, China’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Wang Yu, said the abrupt US announcement of a complete withdrawal of forces had led to a succession of atacks throughout the country.
“China calls on foreign troops in Afghanistan to take into full account the security of people in the country and the region, pull out in a responsible manner and avoid inflicting more turmoil and suffering on the Afghan people,” he said.
Condemning the killing of civilians, India’s foreign ministry said the death of more than 50 young girls made this an atack on the future of Afghanistan.
“The perpetrators clearly seek to destroy the painstaking and hard-won achievements that the Afghans have put in place over the last two decades,” a statement said.
Separately, the outgoing prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) met a high-level Afghan delegation to discuss allegations of war crimes in the country, the court said on Sunday.
Fatou Bensouda met with delegation led by Afghanistan’s foreign and justice ministers on Friday in The Hague, where the court is based, and the day-long discussions were “productive,” the court said in a statement.
Friday’s meeting was organised following Afghanistan’s request in March last year for the court to defer its investigation, the court statement said.
“At the meeting, detailed presentations provided further insights into investigative steps taken or planned by the national authorities in Afghanistan and an opportunity for the (prosecutor’s office) to seek clarifications on a number of discussion points,” it added.