Deadly blast kills four and wounds many at Kabul

SourceBBC

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A suspected twin suicide bombing outside a boys’ high school in the Afghan capital Kabul has killed at least four people and wounded others.

The blasts happened at the Abdul Rahim Shahid school in the Shia-dominated west of the city. The number of dead and wounded is likely to rise.

A nearby tuition centre was also targeted in a grenade attack.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Islamic State militants have attacked the area in the past.

Sources from Muhammad Ali Jinnah Hospital in Kabul told the BBC they had so far received four dead bodies and 19 injured people from the school attack.

Students were leaving morning classes when the blasts happened, one witness told the AFP news agency.

Photographs from the aftermath of the explosions show bloodstains on the ground alongside discarded notebooks.

The area in which the attacks took place – Dasht-e-Barchi – has frequently been the target of attacks by the local branch of the Islamic State group because of its largely Hazara Shia population.

Hazaras are an ethnic and religious minority frequently targeted by Sunni militant groups.

Local sources also said a hand grenade had been thrown at a nearby tuition centre for students preparing for a university entrance exam.

After a spate of IS attacks last year following the Taliban takeover, the groups’ activities had declined.