The death toll in the explosion that took place near a school in Kabul on Saturday, 8 May, has risen to 68, officials said. Meanwhile, as per a Reuters report, doctors are struggling to tend to 165 injured victims, and families are scrounging desperately for their missing children.
The neighbourhood of Dasht-e-Barchi was rocked by explosions on Saturday evening, after a car bomb was set off in front of the Sayed Al-Sahuda school and two bombs exploded, as the students rushed out in panic.
Condemning the attack “which killed more than 50 innocent girl students during the holy month of Ramadan”, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), on its part, said:
“Targetting young girl students makes this an attack 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.”
“This incident demonstrates, once again, the urgent need for dismantling terrorist sanctuaries and the immediate need for a comprehensive nationwide ceasefire to make the peace process meaningful and sustainable,” the MEA added.
Most Victims Were Schoolgirls: Eyewitnesses
As per eyewitnesses, barring seven or eight of the victims, all were schoolgirls. Citing officials too, Reuters reported that most of those killed were schoolgirls.
Images on television showed backpacks scattered on the ground, bloodstained schoolbooks and people scrounging for loved ones.
The Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood, which witnessed the devastation, is reportedly home to a large community of Shi’ites from the Hazra ethnic minority, which has been targeted by the Islamic State (a Sunni militant group), in the past, as well.
An Afghan official, requesting anonymity, was further quoted by Reuters as saying:
“The first blast was powerful and happened so close to the children that some of them could not be found.”
Afghan Prez Blames Taliban, Latter Says No
No group has claimed responsibility for the explosion as of yet. Both the Taliban and Islamic State militant groups are active in Afghanistan.
President Ashraf Ghani blamed the Taliban. The group denied that it was involved, however, and condemned any attack on Afghan civilians.
The Afghan government has been in peace talks with the Taliban since September last year, but these have stalled.
Grieving families have, as per Reuters, pinned the blame on the government and Western powers for failing to put an end to the violence and the ongoing war.
Mohammed Reza Ali, who has been helping families of the victims at a private hospital, was quoted by Reuters, as saying: "The entire night we carried bodies of young girls and boys to a graveyard and prayed for everyone wounded in the attack.”
"Why not just kill all of us to put and end to this war?" Reza Ali asked.
Meanwhile, security is reported to have intensified across Kabul, but authorities have also said that they would not be able to give security to all schools, mosques, and other public places.
(With inputs from Reuters and PTI.)
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