KABUL: At least 19 people were killed and 24 others injured in an explosion at a seminary in the northern Afghan city of Aybak on Wednesday, a doctor at a local hospital told JEE News.
Since the Taliban came to power in August last year, there have been dozens of bombings and attacks targeting civilians, most of which have been claimed by ISIS.
A doctor in Aybak, about 200 kilometers (130 miles) north of the capital Kabul, said most of the dead were young.
“These are all children and ordinary people,” he told JEE News on condition of anonymity.
A provincial official confirmed the explosion at the al-Jihad seminary, an Islamic religious seminary, but could not provide a casualty figure.
The Taliban said 10 students were killed and “several” wounded.
“Our intelligence and security forces are working swiftly to identify the perpetrators of this unforgivable crime and punish them for their actions,” interior ministry spokesman Abdul Nafee Thakur tweeted.
Photos and videos circulating on social media – which could not be immediately verified – showed Taliban fighters picking their way through bodies strewn on the floor of a building.
Prayer mats, broken glass and other debris littered the scene.
Silence between explosions
Some seriously injured patients have been shifted to better-equipped hospitals in Mazar-e-Sharif, about 120 kilometers away by road, said a doctor in Aybak.
“The people who are here… were mostly injured by shrapnel and blast waves. They had some shrapnel on their bodies and faces,” he said.
Aybak is a small but ancient provincial capital that rose to prominence as a caravan halting post for traders during the 4th and 5th centuries when it was also an important center of Buddhism.
There have been weeks between major bombings 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 blew himself up in a Kabul hall where hundreds of students were sitting for practice tests for university entrance.
No group claimed responsibility for the bombing, but the Taliban later blamed ISIS and said it had killed several ringleaders.
In May last year, before the Taliban returned to power, at least 85 people, mostly girls, were killed when three bombs exploded near their school in their neighborhood, injuring nearly 300. were
No group has claimed responsibility, but a year ago ISIS claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on an educational center in the area that killed 24 people.
The Taliban’s return to power ended their insurgency, but ISIS continues to carry out attacks across the country.
The Taliban movement is committed to protecting minorities and addressing security threats.
