The total casualties from a car bombing followed by two blasts targeting girl students of a high school in western Kabul have risen to 50 dead and 100 wounded, according to the Ministry of Interior (MoI).
The dead victims are all civilians, mostly school students and locals, said Tariq Arian, spokesperson for the MoI. He said the death toll is expected to rise.
The spokesperson for the MoI blamed the Taliban for the deadly attack, reiterating that the group did it to pressure the Afghan people and the Afghan government. “The Taliban has two addresses in taking responsibility for terrorist attacks. Through the first, [the group] directly claims responsibility for the attack against military bases and issue statement regarding attacks against civilian facilities through a different address,” Mr. Arian wrote on Facebook.
The Taliban, however, has rejected responsibility for the attack.
The incident took place yesterday, Saturday, May 08, around 04:30 PM outside Sayed ul-Shuhada High School in a western neighborhood of Kabul largely populated by the Hazaras.
According to the MoI spokesperson, the car bomb went off when girl students were leaving the school and moments later two other landmines also targeted the panic crowd of students in the area.
The deadly school bombing drew widespread national and international condemnations. President Ghani, Chief of the High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah, Second Vice President Sarwar Danish, and some other political figures have condemned the attack.
It has been also denounced by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), NATO, European Union, the US Department of State, UK Embassy in Kabul, and other diplomatic missions in the capital Kabul.
Most of these figures, countries, and organizations have described the attack as “barbarous” and “horrific” calling for an immediate end to violence and targeting civilians.
