At least 30 killed in several explosions next to a girls' school in Kabul

Several men try to identify their relatives after the explosions on Saturday in Kabul.Rahmat Gul / AP

At least three explosions near a girls' school in Kabul have caused between 30 and 40 deaths and 50 injuries on Saturday.

Among the victims are numerous female students from the center, as reported by the spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, Tariq Arian, who has described what happened as a "terrorist incident".

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has held the Taliban accountable, which the Taliban have been quick to condemn.

The Dasht-e Barchi neighborhood, in the west of the Afghan capital, was rocked in the early afternoon by at least three explosions, according to local media. It is a poor neighborhood inhabited mainly by Shiites that has previously been the target of numerous attacks by the affiliate group of the Islamic State in the country, known as Islamic State Khorasan. The timing of the attack coincided with the students at Sayed-ul-Shuhada Secondary School leaving classes and last-minute shopping before the breaking of the Ramadan fast, making the area particularly crowded.

"Unfortunately, as a result of this afternoon's terrorist incident in Kabul, there have been 25 martyrs [sic] and 52 wounded have been evacuated so far, all civilian compatriots, but these figures may change," Arian tweeted.

Shortly after, he himself raised the dead to 30 during an appearance before the press, but the Reuters agency spoke of 40, anonymously citing a senior official of the Ministry of the Interior itself.

با تاسف از اثر رویداد تروریستی عصر امروز کابل تا اکنون 25 تن شهید و 52 تن مجروح که همه هموطنان ملکی ما هستند از ساحه انتقال شده است و این ارقام در حال تغییر است.

https://t.co/pcp8nJkVBV

- Tariq Arian (@ TariqArian3) May 8, 2021

Amid the initial chaos trying to rescue the victims, there has been some confusion about the origin of the blasts. "A car bomb exploded first, and then there were two more explosions near the girls' school," a teacher told ToloNews television. The same person added that most of the victims were girls. However, other sources claimed that the explosions were caused by three rockets.

As is becoming common every time there is an attack with a large number of civilian victims, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has not only condemned the explosion, but has accused the Afghan government of being behind it.

"These actions are the work of sinister circles operating in the name of Daesh under the cover of the secret services of the Kabul Administration," he tweeted using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

#Reaction

We condemn today's blast in Dashti Barchi #Kabul which targeted civilians & sadly caused heavy losses.

These are the actions of sinister circles that are operating in the name of Daesh under the wings & intelligence cover of #Kabul admin.

- Zabihullah (..ذبـــــیح الله م) (@ Zabehulah_M33) May 8, 2021

In a statement released by his office, President Ghani returned the indictment shortly after. "The Taliban, by increasing their war and illegitimate violence, have shown once again that they are not only reluctant to resolve the current crisis peacefully, but [prefer] to complicate the situation," he says in the text.

The Taliban and the Afghan government accuse each other of blocking the Doha talks, with which the United States was trying to reach a political settlement before the withdrawal of its troops (which the agreement signed by the Trump Administration with the guerrillas set for the past May 1). On the eve of that deadline, President Joe Biden announced that all US soldiers would leave Afghanistan before September 11, 20 years after the attacks that led Washington to intervene in that Asian country.

Since then, Kabul has been on alert and Afghan officials say the Taliban have increased their attacks and launched a general offensive. Citizens, for their part, fear that, without the protection of foreign troops, the security forces will not be able to stop the Taliban and a new civil war will break out.