The explosion occurred on the private-run Kawsar school in Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul on Sunday morning. Around 15,000 girls and boys currently study at the school. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is present in the same area supporting displaced Afghans.
“The attacker was wearing an explosive vest and was carrying hand grenades. Before exploding his explosive vest, he tried to hurl a hand grenade from the door step of a classroom but the grenade went off in his hand and killed him,” said Hussain Ali Sultanfar, a teacher at the school. “When the students heard the sound of the explosion, everyone ran away, and some of the students got injured escaping the scene. This was one of our special classes with 600 students in class,” Ali added.
Although no group has accepted responsibility for the attack, three months ago the Islamic State group claimed responsibility of an attack on a Shia cultural and religious school some five kilometers away from yesterday’s attack.
“Whoever these are, they can’t stop us from learning and promoting education in the county, however should attacks such as this continue, parents may withdraw their children from our famous education center,” Ali said.
Educational facilities must be protected in armed conflict in the same way as healthcare facilities.
