Afghans bury victims of Kabul | school bombing Asian Stories
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Many of the girls were laid to rest in Kabul Funeral Home, just one day after high school was threatened further next month in Afghanistan by more than a year.
Several shots outside the school on Saturday during a major holiday shopping spree killed more than 50 people, mostly female students, and injured more than 100 in Dasht-e-Barchi, a suburb west of Kabul populated by Hazara Shia.
The government has blamed the Taliban for the killings, but the military has denied the allegations and issued a statement saying the country should “protect and maintain training facilities and institutions”.
Interior Ministry spokesman Tareq Arian told reporters that a car bomb had exploded in front of Sayed Al-Shuhada girls’ school on Saturday, and when the students left in panic, two weapons exploded.
Citizens were shopping for Eid al-Fitr this week, marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
On Sunday, relatives began burying victims at the Martyrs Cemetery, where victims of the Hazara massacre are buried.
Saturday’s blast came as the US military continued to release the last of its 2,500 troops 20 years after the invasion of South Asia.
Hazaras is a Shia Muslim who has historically been persecuted in a country of 38 million.
‘Bodies above each other’
The corpses in the coffins were unloaded from the graves one by one by mourners who were still in a state of panic and fear, an AFP press correspondent said.
“I ran there [after the blasts] and I was found with their bodies, arms and heads severed and their bones broken, “said Mohammad Taqi, a Dasht-e-Barchi resident, whose two daughters were students at the school but survived the attack.
“They were all girls. Their bodies are frozen. ”
Last week, students at the school staged a demonstration against the lack of teachers and learning materials, said Mirza Hussain, a local university student.
“But what they have [in return] killing many people. ”
Books and school bags of war veterans were still lying on the ground at the site of the attack.
Afghan officials, including President Ashraf Ghani, have denounced the Taliban.
“This dangerous group has no power to deal with the security forces in the war, instead it is brutally torturing the security forces and the government and the girls’ school,” Ghani said in a statement.
The Taliban have refused to take part and insisted they have done nothing in Kabul since February last year when they signed an agreement with Washington that paved the way for peaceful negotiations and the withdrawal of the remaining US troops.
But the group has been fighting daily with Afghan forces in difficult areas despite US military restrictions.
Taliban chief warns US
The U.S. was expected to withdraw all troops by May 1 in cooperation with the Taliban last year, but Washington postponed that date until September 11 – which angered the Taliban.
The group’s leader, Haibatullah Akhunzada, also said in a statement issued before Eid that any delay in withdrawing troops was a “violation” of the agreement.
“If the United States fails to deliver on its promises, then the world must testify and hold America accountable for all consequences,” Akhunzada warned in a statement on Sunday.
He added that the country should “protect and maintain the training environment”.
The US ambassador to Kabul, Ross Wilson, said Saturday’s blast was “disgusting”.
“These unforgivable attacks on children are destroying the future of Afghanistan, which cannot be tolerated,” Wilson tweeted.
The Dasht-e-Barchi area has been threatened by militants.
In May last year, a group of gunmen began firing at noon at a local hospital that left 24 people dead, including 16 newborn mothers.
On October 24, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a training ground in the same state, killing 18 people in an attack by ISIL (ISIS).
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