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Afghanistan

A Closer Look at the Kabul School Bombing

2021-05-10

Background to the story reported here and here. Not mentioned in these articles but brought out in comments yesterday is that the neighbourhood is primarily Hazera Shiite, and the bombers were probably ISIS, which has attacked Shiite schools in that area before.

[ToloNews] It was a quiet Saturday afternoon and hundreds of girls were leaving the school when the deadly incident occurred. Suddenly many students found themselves among smoke and blood and debris from a car kaboom that happened in front of the entrance gate of Sayed-ul-Shuhada High School in the west of Kabul.

The car kaboom was followed by two IED blasts that were placed nearby, according to the Ministry of Interior, which put the corpse count at 52. But eyewitnesses and victims’ relatives said 63 people--most of whom were schoolgirls--were killed and at least 150 more were maimed.

Residents said the students were leaving the school when the boom-mobile detonated.

Two more blasts happened shortly after the first.

No group has so far grabbed credit for the attack.

The school enrolls over 7,000 students in two shifts. The late shift, in which the blasts happened, contained at least 2,000 girls.

Videos shared on social media show victims’ families tirelessly searching for their loved ones whose bags and clothes were left in the area, ripped open by the blast.

"All are innocent children... All are underage girls. All were martyred mercilessly. One didn’t have legs, another didn’t have a head," said Abdul Latif, a resident of the Dasht-e-Barchi area in Kabul.

"The car (that went kaboom!) was parked there from 1pm that day... And the incident happened after 4pm. If you do not see this Mr. Ashraf Ghani

...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money...
, leave the power, and don’t bother people," said Hadi, a resident of Dasht-e-Barchi in Kabul.

All of the students who were killed or maimed were under 18 years old.

"The enemies of the people of Afghanistan and the enemies of Islam will never be able to defeat us by such acts. We will send our children to school to defeat their enemies with education and pen," said Marzia, a resident of the area.

"It shows the cruelty of the terrorist groups who killed our children and youth to fuel a psychological war," said Mahmoud Abdullah, a resident of the area.

Om Sunday, the relatives of the victims were still searching for the belongings of their loved ones at the blast scene. Sunday afternoon. Sediqa Jafari, who is blind and lives in the area, said they are tired and there is no more space for them to suffer such pain.

"Anyone who does this in this holy month will be defeated and is a cruel enemy. It is evident who does this," Sediqa said.

Two more attacks targeted education centers in the west of Kabul in less than two years, killing dozens of students.

"We are working thoroughly to find the perpetrators of the case to punish them," Interior Ministry’s front man Tariq Arian said.

Dasht-e-Barchi residents said the repeat of deadly attacks in the west of Kabul shows that the government "has failed" to ensure the safety of the area.

Most School Attack Victims Were From Low-Income Families

[ToloNews] The triple blasts near a school in the west of Kabul on Saturday took 63 lives, many of whom were female students from poor families living in Dasht-e-Barchi, one of the most low-income areas in Kabul.

Their ages ranged from 13 to 18 years old and they were attending classes from 7 to 12th grade at school. Some of them paid their expenses from carpet weaving.

Kamila, 13, was the only literate person in her family. She sought education to help her family get of their current economic situation. Gulsoom, 17, another victim, wanted to become a pilot.

The school is located near a hillside, surrounded by mostly one-story houses, most of which are made of mud.

"She did carpet weaving at nights and studied during the day so that she could continue her education and afford her expenses," Kamila’s mother said.

"It is hard for me to go to school and study because we have lost our hope in the government," said Zahra, Kamila’s sister.

Tahira, who shared a class with her sister Gilsoom--who was killed--survived the attack but is maimed. Tahira, too, paid for her and her family’s needs with carpet weaving.

"She earned 200 Afs a day and spent it for her needs at school," Gulsoom’s mother Masooma said.

"Our family said she should not go to school because her future would not be guaranteed, but I insisted that she should go to school because it was a state school," said Husain, the brother of a victim.

Raihana, another victim, also wanted to become a pilot.

Kamila, who was killed in the blast, wanted to become a police officer, according to their relatives.

"I saw the first body, I saw the second, and the third was my own Raihana," said Mohammad Ali, Raihana’s father.

"We went to school together that day. She (Raihana) was very happy compared to other days. She told me that she was very happy that day," said Habiba, Raihana’s sister.

Tahira says her wounds from the blast are minor but the pain from losing her sister has given her a bigger pain.

Families of the students said they have lost their hope for the future as they have no idea if they will be able to continue to send their children to school.

Posted by:trailing wife

#1 For all of those still in the game. They are still saving the second bomb for responders.

Posted by: 49 Pan 2021-05-10 11:49

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