At least 24 people, including teenagers, have been killed and dozens more injured in a suicide bombing at a training center in Kabul, Afghan, officials have stated today.

Interior Ministry spokesman Tarek Arian said security guards had identified the bomber who detonated his explosives on the road outside the Kausar-e-Danis training center in the western part of the Afghan capital. Most of the victims were students aged 15 to 26, according to the Ministry of Health.

Video: Aftermath of a suicide attack that targeted an educational center in the west of # Kabul on Saturday evening, killing at least 18, according to officials. #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/V4EwpFKkxi

& mdash; TOLOnews (@TOLOnews) October 25, 2020

In addition, 57 people were injured in the attack, the Interior Ministry said.

A Taliban spokesman denied on Twitter that the group was responsible for the attack, which took place at a sensitive time as delegations from the rebels and the Afghan government met in Doha, Qatar, so as to reach a peace agreement.

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The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack via Telegram, but did not provide evidence to support its claim. The attack, condemned by NATO and the Afghan government, took place in a district of western Kabul inhabited mainly by members of the Khazara Shiite minority, which has often been targeted by organizations such as the Islamic State in the past.

Dozens of students were killed in the same neighborhood in 2018 in an attack on another training center. A teacher in Kausar-e-Danis, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said he and his colleagues were shocked by the attack on a training center that prepares thousands of children for higher education.

The attack took place amid other fights in several Afghan provinces in recent weeks, displacing thousands of civilians. The US special envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmai Khalilzad, today called on Twitter to immediately reduce the violence and speed up the peace process, citing growing violence in the country, including an airstrike by the Afghan army that killed 12 children.

Over 19 casualties mostly dead reported in an explosion at an educational center Kawsar-e-Danish tuition center in Pul-e-Khoshk in western #Kabul .
The educational center is mostly attended by Shiite #Hazara students.
Looks like a sectarian attack #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/4o3stPw8ZK</ a>

& mdash; Farzana Shah (@Jana_Shah) October 24, 2020

With information from: CNA – ANA MPA / AFP

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