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Suicide bomber strikes school attached to French cultural centre in Kabul German citizen killed in suicide bomb at Kabul high school
(35 minutes later)
A suicide bomber has struck a high school attached to the French cultural centre in Kabul killing at least one person and wounding 15 others, officials said. A teenage suicide bomber has killed a German citizen and wounded more than a dozen Afghans and foreigners in an attack on a high school in Kabul.
“I firmly condemn this terrorist attack, which killed several people and injured many,” French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said in a statement, adding that no French nationals had died. The attacker detonated explosives hidden in his underwear amid a crowd of spectators attending a theatre performance at a French cultural centre, located on the grounds of Istiqlal high school in the centre of the Afghan capital. The Taliban claimed responsibility.
Afghanistan’s deputy interior minister, Mohammed Ayub Salangi, said at least one person was killed and 15 others were wounded. The play, titled Heartbeat – The Silence After The Explosion, was about the aftermath of a suicide attack.
Kabul police chief, Abdul Rahman Rahimi, told reporters the bomber blew himself up in the audience during a theatre performance at the Istiqlal high school, which is attached to the French cultural centre. A 15-year-old eyewitness, who declined to give his name while searching for his family outside the high school grounds, said the explosion had caused a big fire in the theatre hall. After the explosion, blood and body parts were strewn on the floor. “It was very scary,” he said.
The centre is located in the centre of Kabul, not far from the presidential palace, and shares its grounds with the Istiqlal school, a French-financed institution that has taught generations of Afghan children. According to Kabul’s police chief, Abdul Rahman Rahimi, footage from the theatre hall showed the bomber to be about 16 years old. He said that aside from one fatality, 20 people were wounded in the blast. According to the Ministry of Interior, at least seven of them were admitted to hospital.
Originally opened in 1970, the cultural centre was forced to close between 1983 and 2002 as Afghanistan was torn apart by a series of wars. It reopened in 2003 and was revamped in 2010. In a statement, French foreign minister Laurent Fabius sent his condolences to the families of the victims, and announced that the French embassy in Kabul was working alongside the Afghan authorities to assist the injured.
The attack came just hours after another suicide bomber targeted a bus carrying Afghan troops in the suburbs of the city, killing at least six soldiers. Earlier on Thursday, another suicide attacker targeted a bus carrying Afghan national army troops in a Kabul suburb, killing at least six soldiers.
The growing spate of deadly attacks in Kabul in recent weeks has heightened concerns that Afghanistan could tip into a spiral of violence as the US-led military presence declines. The bombings come after a spate of attacks in the Afghan capital, which has seen militants target foreign NGO guest houses, Afghan and US troops, and a British embassy vehicle. The dramatic surge in violence has prompted criticism of Kabul’s security forces. It is now up to Rahimi, as newly appointed police chief, to deal with that criticism, after his predecessor was sacked barely two weeks ago.
Militants have targeted foreign guest houses, embassy vehicles, US troops and Afghan army buses in Kabul over the past month. The upswing in violence has elicited concerns that the Afghan security forces may not be able to secure the capital, as the majority of international troops prepare to withdraw at the end of the year.
The US defence secretary, Chuck Hagel, said on a visit to Kabul at the weekend that the upsurge showed “that the international community must not waver in its support for a stable, secure, and prosperous Afghanistan”. Over the weekend, the Afghan government’s chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, said that a drawdown from 150,000 to 12,000 international troops in just two years was too abrupt. Meanwhile, the US defence secretary, Chuck Hagel, stressed during a visit to Kabul that the increased violence was proof that “the international community must not waver in its support for a stable, secure and prosperous Afghanistan”.