Kabul: 10 people, including school students, were killed and 20 others were injured in a suicide attack in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on Saturday. The Home Ministry said the blast took place outside a teaching center in the Shia-dominated area of western Kabul.
Home Ministry spokesman Tariq Aryan said the attacker was trying to break into the training center when he was stopped by security guards. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The Taliban has denied involvement in the blast. It is noteworthy that the organization affiliated with the Islamic State had claimed responsibility for a similar attack on a teaching center in August 2018 in which 34 students were killed.
The United States signed a peace deal with the Taliban in February, paving the way for the withdrawal of US troops from the country. U.S. officials said the agreement would focus on strengthening security in the fight against Islamic State. Islamic State is a rival of the Taliban.
The country has seen an increase in violence between the Taliban and Afghan forces. Meanwhile, representatives of the Taliban and the government are holding peace talks in Doha, the capital of Qatar, to end the decades-long war in Afghanistan. Earlier on Saturday, nine people were killed in a roadside explosion in eastern Afghanistan. The mini van, in which ordinary people were sitting, was hit by the blast.
Ahmed Khan Seerat, a police spokesman for Ghazni province, said two policemen were killed in the second roadside blast. The blast hit a police vehicle which was earlier going to the site of the blast to help the victims. Sirat said several others were injured in the blasts and an investigation into the attacks was underway. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. A provincial police spokesman claimed the bombs were planted by the Taliban.
