New Delhi: A hand grenade attack was reported from near a school in Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday. The attack reportedly left several children injured,
said authorities in the Afghan capital.
Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran was quoted by AP as saying that “multiple children were injured in the attack.” He said that investigations were underway but did not provide further details about who was behind the attack.
Richard Bennett, the United Nations’ special rapporteur for Afghanistan, on Tuesday confirmed the attack. He also “condemned the heinous attack harming multiple children, near a school”, the previous day.
According to reports in Afghan media around 50 children were injured in the attack, which occurred in an area populated by the minority Hazara community. Hazaras who are in minority in Afghanistan, make around 9% of the population of the country. They have long been oppressed and have suffered multiple attacks.
The Hazaras are Shitte Muslims and have suffered at the hands of Sunni Muslim radicals, including the Islamic State group. Not only that, they have also faced discrimination for a long time in a Sunni majority country, Afghanistan.
In May 2021 shortly before the Taliban takeover, 3 bomb blasts at a school in Kabul, killed dozens of children. They were mostly school girls, from the minority Hazara community who were leaving school at the time.
The bombings which happened on Monday were at a school located in Kabul’s Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood. The previous bombing in 2021 also occurred at a different school located in the same area. This is basically the main Hazara majority district in Kabul.
Bennett called for an independent investigation into the bombings. He called the bombings “deplorable” and said that once again the Hazara part of the capital had been targeted.
