On Monday, the United Nations announced the death toll of last week’s suicide bombing in Afghanistan’s education centre, in Kabul has risen to 53. Among those killed 46 were girls and young women and at least 110 people were injured, reports indicated that the bombing was next to a women’s study hall packed with students.
The attack took place on Friday, in a Kabul neighbourhood which is historically home to the oppressed Shiite Muslim Hazara community in a majority Sunni Muslim country. According to reports, the former has been subjected to some of the countries’ worst violence in recent history.
The United Nations assistance mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) took to Twitter to give an update on Friday’s incident and indicated that their human rights teams are working to document the crime, verify facts and establish reliable data to “counter denial & revisionism”.
Further rise in casualties from Friday’s classroom bombing in #Hazara quarter of #Kabul:
53 killed, at least 46 girls & young women
110 injuredOur human rights team continues documenting the crime: verifying facts & establishing reliable data to counter denial & revisionism
— UNAMA News (@UNAMAnews) October 3, 2022
The suicide bombing took place at a gender-segregated women’s education centre which reportedly had hundreds of students giving a practice test for university admissions. This is contrary to the claims made by Taliban authorities according to whom only 25 people were killed and 33 others wounded. Meanwhile, no group has claimed responsibility for this attack.
This attack was one among many that have taken place since the Taliban took over the country last year, additionally, security has begun to deteriorate in the past couple of months. The Taliban has also blocked many girls and young women from pursuing secondary education.
The incident also sparked protests in the capital city of Kabul and other places in Afghanistan. On Saturday, at least 50 women took to the streets of Dasht-e-Barchi, where the attack happened, in protest and chanted, “Stop Hazara genocide, it’s not a crime to be a Shiite.”
ALSO READ: Female students protest against the deadly Kabul attack as toll jumps to 43
A similar attack in the same neighbourhood took place in May 2021, prior to the Taliban’s take over, where at least 85 people were killed and approximately 300 were injured. Among those killed were mostly young girls as the three bombs exploded near a school in Dasht-e-Barchi.
(With inputs from agencies)
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