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A Car Bomb Detonated Outside A Girls’ School In Afghanistan, Killing At Least 85 People, Mostly Girls

At least 85 people, mostly young girls, have been killed and another 147 wounded in a bomb attack outside a girl’s school in Afghanistan on Saturday May 8.

Wendy Chuang

Wendy Chuang

— 3 min read
A Car Bomb Detonated Outside A Girls’ School In Afghanistan, Killing At Least 85 People, Mostly Girls

At least 85 people, mostly young girls, have been killed and another 147 wounded in a bomb attack outside a girl’s school in Afghanistan on Saturday May 8.

A car bomb detonated in front of the Sayed Al-Shuhada high school in the capital, Kabul, around 4pm local time, and as the students were rushing out in panic, two more bombs exploded, according to Afghan officials.

A view from the site after at least 30 people, mostly schoolgirls, have been killed in three back-to-back blasts targeting a school in Afghanistanâs capital Kabul.
A view from the site after at least 30 people, mostly schoolgirls, have been killed in three back-to-back blasts targeting a school in Afghanistanâs capital Kabul. (Photo by Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Most of the victims were schoolgirls.

“The first blast was powerful and happened so close to the children that some of them could not be found,” an official told Reuters.

Images show bloodied backpacks, books and bodies lying on the road.

A view from the site after at least 30 people, mostly schoolgirls, have been killed in three back-to-back blasts targeting a school in Afghanistanâs capital Kabul.
A view from the site after at least 30 people, mostly schoolgirls, have been killed in three back-to-back blasts targeting a school in Afghanistanâs capital Kabul. (Photo by Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

“The entire night we carried bodies of young girls and boys to a graveyard and prayed for every one wounded in the attack,” Mohammed Reza Ali, a person who has been helping families of the victims at a private hospital, told CNN.

Family members and relatives mourn inside a hospital while sitting next to the bodies of victims who died in a blast outside a school in the west Kabul district of Dasht-e-Barchi, that killed at least 25 people and wounded scores more including students, officials said.
Family members and relatives mourn inside a hospital while sitting next to the bodies of victims who died in a blast outside a school in the west Kabul district of Dasht-e-Barchi, that killed at least 25 people and wounded scores more including students, officials said. (Photo by ZAKERIA HASHIMI/AFP via Getty Images)

Some people were still searching for missing relatives on Sunday, trying to find familiar names posted on hospital walls or morgues, and some were mourning their lost children.

Family members and relatives mourn inside a hospital while sitting next to the bodies of victims who died in a blast outside a school in the west Kabul district of Dasht-e-Barchi.
Family members and relatives mourn inside a hospital while sitting next to the bodies of victims who died in a blast outside a school in the west Kabul district of Dasht-e-Barchi. (Photo by ZAKERIA HASHIMI/AFP via Getty Images)

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. The government had blamed the Taliban, which has denied its involvement and condemned the attack, according to the New York Times.

People search for relatives after at least 30 people, mostly schoolgirls, have been killed in three back-to-back blasts targeting a school in Afghanistanâs capital Kabul.
People search for relatives after at least 30 people, mostly schoolgirls, have been killed in three back-to-back blasts targeting a school in Afghanistanâs capital Kabul. (Photo by Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

“Targeting primarily students in a girls’ school makes this an attack on the future of Afghanistan. On young people determined to improve their country,” the European Union mission in Afghanistan said in a statement on Twitter.

Pope Francis called the terrorist attack “an inhuman act” on Twitter.

On Sunday night, 11 more people were killed and 25 people injured in a bus bomb in the country’s southern Zabul province.

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