Iran mourns Afghan schoolchildren killed in terror attack

TEHRAN — Iranian government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi on Tuesday condemned the bombings of school children in Kabul, Afghanistan, calling the move a criminal act on the part of terrorists.
“Targeting innocent children during the holy month of Ramadan has once again shown the reality of criminal terrorists,” Bahadori Jahromi tweeted.
He added, “The grief of the martyrdom and injuries of dozens of Afghan students during the holy month of Ramadan is indescribable.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh also called on Afghan officials to “identify” and “punish” those who committed the heinous act.
Writing on his Twitter account, Khatibzadeh declared “black-hearted Takfiris once against the crimes committed” and shed the blood of Afghan children.
He said that these “anti-religious” people did not even observe the “observance of the fasting month of Ramadan”.
At least six people, including students, were killed and 11 others injured after two explosions targeted a boys’ school in the Dasht-e-Barchi district of Kabul, a Kabul police spokesman said.
Khalid Zadran told AFP news agency on Tuesday that two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were detonated outside Abdul Rahim Shahid High School in western Kabul.
Zadran said a third explosion occurred at an English-speaking center several miles away but in the same area. He did not say whether it was caused by an explosive. There were no immediate reports of casualties from there.
He previously tweeted that three blasts rocked the school, which is in an area mainly inhabited by the Shia Hazara community – an ethnic and religious minority frequently targeted by ISIL (ISIS) attacks in the past.
Tuesday’s blasts occurred as students walked out of their morning classes at the school, which can accommodate up to 1,000 pupils, witnesses told AFP. It was not immediately known how many children were in the school at the time of the explosions.
The blasts, which occurred in quick succession, were being investigated and further casualties were feared, according to the Zadran and Kabul Emergency Hospital. Several of the injured were in critical condition.
The head of a hospital nursing department, who declined to be named, told Reuters news agency that at least four people had been killed and 14 injured in the blasts.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which followed a lull in violence over the cold winter months and after the withdrawal of foreign forces last year.
Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders say they have secured the country since taking power in August, but international officials and analysts say the risk of a rebellion remains.
Many attacks in recent months have been claimed by ISIL.
In May last year, at least 85 people – mostly female students – were killed and around 300 injured when three bombs exploded near their school in Dasht-e-Barchi.