Kabul boys’ school rocked by blasts, casualties feared

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The school in Dasht-e-Barchi – a Hazara Shia neighbourhood – was hit by three blasts, police say.

A boys’ school in western Kabul’s Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood has been hit by blasts, causing casualties, police in the Afghan capital say.

Tuesday’s blasts occurred as students were coming out of their morning classes at the Abdul Rahim Shahid high school, a witness told the AFP news agency.

Many residents in the neighbourhood belong to the Shia Hazara community, an ethnic and religious minority frequently targeted by ISIL (ISIS) attacks in the past.

“Three blasts have taken place … in a high school, there are some casualties to our Shia people,” said Khalid Zadran, the spokesman for Kabul police.

The head of a hospital nursing department, who declined to be named, told Reuters news agency at least four people were killed and 14 wounded in the blasts.

Al Jazeera however, has not been able to independently confirm the casualty figure.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which followed a lull in violence over the cold winter months and after foreign forces withdrew last year.

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers say they have secured the country since taking power in August, but international officials and analysts say the risk of a rebellion remains.

Many of the attacks in the past several months have been claimed by ISIL.

More soon.