MONITORING (SW) – Afghans from various walks of life and international community representatives called for justice and probe as Kabul mourned Tuesday’s multiple explosion victims.
Three consecutive explosions in western Kabul left scores of young students killed and injured.
“UNAMA unequivocally condemns heinous attack on schools in #Kabul today. Those responsible for the crime targeting schools & children must be brought to justice”, tweeted the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.
Ramiz Alakabrov, @UN Secretary General’s Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator called the bombings as “horrific” and strongly condemned them.
According to reports, multiple explosions hit Abdul Rahim Shahid high school and the nearby Mumtaz Education Centre in the Dasht-e-Barchi area of Western Kabul, killing at least six people and injuring dozens more, said the UN.
Several of the wounded are reported to be in critical condition. Officials have expressed concerns that the number of casualties could rise. The Abdul Rahim Shahid high school was reported to have been hit by the blasts as students were coming out of their morning classes, and was followed by an explosion a few kilometers away near the Mumtaz Education Centre.
“On behalf of the entire humanitarian community in Afghanistan, I extend my sincere condolences to all those affected, and to the families of those killed,” Mr. Alakbarov said. “Violence in or around schools is never acceptable. For the people of Afghanistan, already beleaguered by forty years of war, schools should be safe havens, and places where children can learn and flourish.” Alakbarov reiterated that attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, including schools, are strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law.
Various diplomatic missions and aid agencies also condemned the attack.
Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called the attacks “crimes against humanity” and denounced them in the strongest terms. Karzai has called the attacks an obvious enmity towards science and fear of the country’s educated generation.
Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the former government’s High Council for National Reconciliation, also condemned the bombings in western Kabul. “This brutal massacre is the work of the enemies of peace and progress in Afghanistan,” Abdullah wrote on Facebook.
In a message, Mohammad Mohaqiq, the leader of the Islamic Unity Party, called the bombings in western Kabul a ‘genocide and an example of a crime against humanity’.
Javid Hajir, a spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health, told Salam Watandar that five people had been killed and 20 injured in the blasts and that they had been taken to Kabul hospitals.
Witnesses said the death toll from the blasts was higher than official figures, but Khalid Zadran, a spokesman for the Kabul Police Command, told Salam Watandar that according to initial reports, six people had been killed and 11 injured in the blasts.
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