least 10 people have been killed after a bomb blast hit a religious school in northern Afghanistan, the ruling Taliban has said. The blast took place in Aybak in the Samangan province and left many more injured, a spokesperson for the interior ministry told the BBC.
Taliban’s security forces are investigating the attack, and vowed to “identify the perpetrators and punish them for their actions”. The former president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, said the explosion was a “crime against humanity” in a tweet, and expressed his sympathy to the families of the victims.
has been rocked by dozens of blasts since the Taliban seized power last year, mostly claimed by the local offshoot of the Islamic State group, known as Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISIS-K). The group is the most extreme of the militant groups in Afghanistan and has targeted religious minorities – such as Hazaras – who the Taliban have pledged to protect.
