Students killed in madrasa blast
AT LEAST 16 people were killed and 24 others wounded yesterday in a blast at a madrasa in Afghanistan’s northern city of Aybak, about 200km north of Kabul.
There have been dozens of blasts and attacks targeting civilians since the Taliban returned to power in August last year. The local chapter of the Islamic State (IS) group has claimed responsibility for most of these.
The casualties were mostly youngsters. “All of them are children and ordinary people,” said a doctor in Aybak, who asked not to be named.
A provincial official confirmed there was a blast at Al Jihad madrasa, but could not provide casualty figures.
The Taliban, which frequently plays down casualty figures, said 10 students had died and “many others” were injured. “Our detective and security forces are working quickly to identify the perpetrators of this unforgivable crime and punish them for their actions,” tweeted Interior Ministry spokesperson Abdul Nafay Takor.
Images and video circulating on social media, which could not immediately be verified, showed Taliban fighters picking their way through
bodies strewn across the building. Prayer mats, shattered glass and other debris littered the scene.
Aybak is a small but ancient provincial capital that came to prominence as a stopping post for caravans of traders during the fourth and fifth centuries when it was also an important Buddhist centre. There has been a lull of a few weeks between 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 that was packed with hundreds of students sitting for a practice test for university admissions. No group claimed
responsibility for that bombing, but the Taliban later blamed IS 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.
No group claimed responsibility, but a year earlier IS claimed a suicide attack on an educational centre in the area that killed 24.
The Taliban’s return to power brought an end to their insurgency, but IS continues to stage attacks across the country.
The Taliban movement, made up primarily of ethnic Pashtuns, has pledged to protect minorities and clamp down on security threats.