STUDENTS AMONG 15 KILLED IN AFGHAN SCHOOL EXPLOSION

Wed 30 November 2022:

At least 15 people, including several children, were killed in a bombing at a religious school in the Samangan province of northern Afghanistan, according to a local authority.

At least 20 additional people were also injured in the explosion at the school in Aybak, the capital of Samangan, on Wednesday, according to provincial spokesman Emdadullah Muhajir.

“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.

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 videos 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.

Since gaining control of the country last year when the US-led foreign forces withdrew after 20 years, the Taliban has stated that its main priority is to secure the war-torn country.

But throughout the past 15 months of Taliban administration, the nation has seen a number of fatal attacks.

Last October, an explosion that occurred in the northern province of Kunduz resulted in at least 60 deaths. Days later, a mosque in the province of Kandahar was attacked. In that attack, at least 65 individuals were slain.

Six individuals were murdered in an explosion that occurred in April at a secondary school in Kabul, the country’s capital. At least 31 individuals were killed in an ISIL attack in Balkh province that same month.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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