Iran Decries Terrorist Attacks At Shiite Schools In Kabul

Students running in panic after a blast at a boys school in a neighborhood mostly populated by the Shia Hazarah community in the western part of Kabul on April 19, 2022
Students running in panic after a blast at a boys school in a neighborhood mostly populated by the Shia Hazarah community in the western part of Kabul on April 19, 2022

Iran has condemned a terrorist attacks at a boys’ high school and other educational institutions in a Shia-dominated neighborhood of the Afghan capital, Kabul.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh censured what he said was Takfiri terrorists shedding the blood of innocent teenagers, urging Taliban officials to identify and punish the perpetrators.

Iranian officials use Takfiri as a vague umbrella term to refer to Sunni dissident or extremist groups and individuals, including the Islamic State (ISIS), alleging that they are organized by western powers and Wahhabis.

Earlier in the day, at least six people were killed, and 25 others were injured after three huge explosions ripped through two educational centers in western Kabul.

A tutoring center in a neighborhood mostly populated by the Shia Hazarah community in the western part of Kabul was targeted with a grenade before two back-to-back blasts targeted a boys’ high school located in the same area.

Initial reports suggested the attack was conducted by suicide bombers, but Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said improvised explosive devices had been placed in backpacks and left outside the school.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State militants targeted the area in multiple times between September and December 2021.

Hazaras are an ethnic and religious minority that are frequently targeted by Sunni militant extremists, who regard them as heretics.