At least 15 killed in Afghanistan school bombing, says official
Several attacks have taken place in recent months, some of which have been claimed by the ISIL (ISIS) armed group.
AT least 15 people have been killed in a bomb blast at a religious school in northern Afghanistan’s Samangan province, according to a local official.
Provincial spokesman Emdadullah Muhajir added that at least 20 others were also wounded in the explosion in the school in Aybak, the capital of Samangan, on Wednesday.
“A blast took place around 12:45pm inside Jahdia Madrasa in the centre of the city. Lots of boys are studying at this madrasa [religious school],” he said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Muhajir said an investigation had begun.
The federal interior ministry spokesperson Abdul Nafi Takor confirmed the blast but put the death toll so far at 10, with more injured.
“Our detective and security forces are working to identify the perpetrators of this unforgivable crime and bring them to justice,” Takor said.
A doctor in Aybak, about 200km (124 miles) north of the national capital Kabul, said the casualties were mostly youngsters.
“All of them are children and ordinary people,” he told the AFP news agency, asking not to be named.
Images and video circulating on social media – which could not immediately be verified – showed officials picking their way through bodies strewn across the floor of a building.
Prayer mats, shattered glass and other debris littered the scene.
The Taliban says it is focused on securing the war-torn nation since taking over the country last year.
However, several attacks have taken place in recent months, some of which have been claimed by the ISIL (ISIS) armed group.
Obaidullah Baheer, who teaches at the American University of Afghanistan, told Al Jazeera people are shaken by the attack.
“It is just so senseless, most of these people, the casualties, are children. This is a religious school. So, it defies logic and it is evil,” he said.
“It is just meant to spread fear. It is to show that no one is safe. It’s to show that they will hit and the ultimate goal of terror is spreading terror and that’s what they are achieving to do.”
There has been a lull of a few weeks between major blasts targeting civilians in Afghanistan, although several Taliban fighters have been killed in isolated attacks.
In September, at least 54 people – including 51 girls and young women – were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a device at a hall in Kabul packed with hundreds of students sitting a practice test for university admissions.
No group claimed responsibility for that bombing, but the Taliban later blamed the ISIL and said it had killed several ringleaders.
In May last year, before the Taliban’s return to power, at least 85 people – mainly girls – were killed and about 300 were wounded when three bombs exploded near their school in the neighbourhood.
No group claimed responsibility, but a year earlier ISIL claimed a suicide attack on an educational centre in the area that killed 24.
The Taliban – made up primarily of ethnic Pashtuns – has pledged to protect the country’s minorities and clamp down on security threats.