New Delhi: At least 16 people were killed and 24 others were injured after a blast at a madrassa in Afghanistan’s northern city of Aybak on Wednesday, news agency AFP reported.
A doctor in Aybak, about 200 kilometres north of the capital Kabul, said that the casualties were mostly young people.
“All of them are children and ordinary people,” AFP quoted the doctor as saying.
A provincial official confirmed the blast at Al Jihad madrassa, however, could not provide the casualty figures.
“Our detective and security forces are working quickly to identify the perpetrators of this unforgivable crime and punish them for their actions,” Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafay Takor tweeted.
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No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, as per the report.
The blast is said to have taken place as people were leaving congregational prayers on Wednesday.
It is to be noted that Afghanistan has been jolted by dozens of blasts since the Taliban took over last year, mostly claimed by the local offshoot of the Islamic State group, known as Islamic State - Khorasan Province (ISIS-K).
Earlier, in September, at least 54 people, including 51 girls and young women, were killed after a suicide bomber detonated a bomb in the capital city of Kabul.
According to reports, the attacker had targeted a hall where hundreds of students were sitting for a test for university admission.
However, Taliban leaders later blamed ISIS-K for the attack, though the group itself did not take any responsibility for the blast.
In May last year, before the Taliban’s return to power, at least 85 people, mainly girls, were killed and about 300 were injured when three bombs exploded near their school in the neighbourhood. However, no group claimed responsibility.