Afghanistan: Suicide blast kills 19 in classroom attack, casualties mostly girls

A suicide bomb attack on a classroom of hundreds of students preparing for exams in the Afghan capital on Friday killed at least 19 people, with most of the casualties girls, police and a witness said.

The blast ripped through Kaaj Higher Educational Center, which coaches mainly adult men and women ahead of university entrance tests.

"We were around 600 in the classroom. But most of the casualties are among the girls," Akbar, a student who was wounded in the attack, told AFP from a nearby hospital.

The bombing happened in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood of western Kabul, which is home to the minority Hazara community, the target of some of Afghanistan's most deadly attacks.

"Students were preparing for an exam when a suicide bomber struck at this educational centre. Unfortunately, 19 people have been martyred and 27 others wounded," Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said.

A shopkeeper from the area said there was a loud explosion and then crowds of students rushed out of the centre.

"It was chaos as many students, boys and girls, tried to escape from the building. It was a horrific scene. Everyone was so scared," he told AFP anonymously.

Videos posted online and photos published by local media showed bloodied victims being carried away from the scene.

"Security teams have reached the site, the nature of the attack and the details of the casualties will be released later," Abdul Nafy Takor, the interior ministry's spokesman, earlier tweeted.

"Attacking civilian targets proves the enemy's inhuman cruelty and lack of moral standards."

Families rushed to area hospitals where ambulances arrived with victims, and lists of those confirmed dead and wounded were posted on the walls.

"We didn't find her here," a distressed woman looking for her sister at one of the hospitals told AFP. "She was 19 years old."

"We are calling her but she's not responding."

Taliban members forced families of victims to leave the site of at least one hospital, fearing a follow-up attack on the crowd.

By Friday afternoon, the Taliban allowed journalists to visit the educational centre.