Kabul: At least 20 people, mostly students, were killed and dozen others wounded in a blast, which took place outside a school in Afghanistan capital Kabul on Saturday.
Many of the victims in the explosion, which took place around 4 p.m. in front of Sayed Ul-Shuhada high school, were female students.
Kabul’s Mohammad Ali Jinnah Hospital Head Dr Mohammad Dawood Danish said that 20 bodies and over 40 wounded people were admitted to his hospital.
The blast and the possible targeting of female students comes as rights groups and others have raised fears that the looming American troop withdrawal will endanger the progress that women have made in the patriarchal society in recent years, the New York Times reported.
It is, however, unclear if there were multiple explosions or it was a coordinated attack as no group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
The number of casualties is likely to increase as the blast took place when streets and roads were packed with residents preparing for the end of the holy month of Ramadan.