Kabul attack: Blasts near school leave a lot more than 50 dead
Blasts close to a second school in the Afghan capital Kabul have gone at least 50 persons dead and more than 100 injured, officials say.
The explosions occurred as students were leaving the building on Saturday, with pictures on social media showing abandoned school bags in the street. A lot of the victims were girls, a ministry of education spokeswoman said. No-one has admitted undertaking the attack in Dasht-e-Barchi - a location often hit by Sunni Islamist militants.
Afghan government officials blamed Taliban militants for the attack, but the group denied any involvement. The explosions are believed to have been the effect of a car bomb and two improvised explosive devices planted in the region. A nearby in western Kabul houses many from the Hazara minority community, who are of Mongolian and Central Asian descent and so are mainly Shia Muslims.
Almost exactly a year ago, a maternity unit at the neighborhood hospital was attacked, leaving 24 women, children and babies dead. The specific target for Saturday's bloodshed is unclear. The blasts come against a backdrop of rising violence as the US looks to withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan by 11 September.
Reports from Kabul say the city was busy with shoppers before this year's celebrations for Eid al-Fitr in a few days. Students were also streaming from the institution. Najiba Arian, ministry of education spokeswoman, told Reuter's news agency the government-run school was available to boys and girls.
The majority of the those hurt were girls, who study in the next of three sessions, according to Ms Arian.
Several witnesses described hearing three separate explosions, while one woman told AFP news agency she had seen "many bloodied bodies in dust and smoke".
