At least 10 people have been killed and 20 wounded in a suicide bombing outside an education center in western Kabul, the Afghan interior ministry said on Saturday.
Driving the news: Tariq Arian, the interior ministry spokesperson, tweeted that the attacker was stopped by security guards before entering the Kawsar-e Danish education center. The attacker then detonated explosives in a nearby alley.
- Other news organizations, including AP, Reuters and local Tolo news agency, citing officials, put the death toll at 18, with 54 wounded, including school children.
Details: Saturday's attack took place in an area that is home to many from Afghanistan's Shia community, a religious minority that has been targeted by ISIS in the past, per Reuters.
- ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on Telegram, but did not provide evidence, Reuters noted. The Taliban rejected any connection to the attack, per AP.
- ISIS claimed responsibility for killing dozens of students in an attack on a different education center in the same area of Kabul in 2018, per AP.
The big picture: There has been an uptick in violence in Afghanistan in recent months despite the Taliban and Afghan forces holding peace talks in Qatar.
- Earlier Saturday, a roadside bomb killed nine people in area east of Kabul. No group has claimed responsibility for that attack, AP reported.
- The U.S. reached an agreement with the Taliban in February to begin a gradual drawdown of American troops from Afghanistan. U.S. troops began withdrawing from the country under the peace agreement the following month.
What they're saying: In a statement, the office of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani "vehemently" condemned Saturday's attacks, saying "that such acts of terror run counter to the Islamic values and principles of humanity."
