Blast at madrassa kills 16 students, wounds 24 in northern Afghanistan's Aybak

New Delhi: A blast at a madrassa in Afghanistan’s northern city of Aybak killed at least 16 people and injured 24 others on Wednesday, according to a doctor at a local hospital. Dozens of blasts and attacks targeting civilians have occurred in Afghanistan since the Taliban swept back to power in August last year, most claimed by the local chapter of the Islamic State (IS) terror group.

A doctor in Aybak, about 200 km north of capital Kabul, said the casualties were mostly students. “All of them are children and ordinary people,” he told news agencies, asking not to be named.

An Afghan provincial official confirmed the blast at Al Jihad madrassa, an Islamic religious school, but could not provide exact casualty figures. The Taliban, which is known to play down casualty figures, said 10 students had died and “many others” were wounded in Wednesday’s blast in northern Afghanistan.

“Our detective and security forces are working quickly to identify the perpetrators of this unforgivable crime and punish them for their actions,” tweeted Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafay Takor.

Videos and images of the explosion circulating on social media — which could not be verified — showed Taliban fighters picking their way through bodies strewn across the floor of a school building. Prayer mats, shattered glass and other debris littered the scene.

Gap between blasts

Aybak is a small but ancient provincial capital that came into prominence as a caravan stopping post for traders during the fourth and fifth centuries when it was also an important Buddhist centre.

There has been a lull of a few weeks between major blasts targeting civilians in Afghanistan, although several Taliban fighters have been killed in isolated attacks.

Barely a couple of months earlier, in September, at least 54 people — including 51 girls and young women — were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a device at a hall in Kabul packed with hundreds of students sitting for a practice test for university admissions.

No terror group claimed responsibility for that bombing, but the Taliban later blamed the Islamic State and said it had killed several ringleaders.

In May last year, before the Taliban’s return to power, at least 85 people — mainly girls — were killed and about 300 were wounded when three bombs exploded near their school in the neighbourhood

The Taliban’s return to power brought about an end to their insurgency, but the dreaded IS continues to stage attacks across the crisis-hit country.

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