Death toll from deadly Kabul blast reaches 50

Dozens have been killed in bombings at sports halls, cultural centres, and places of education in particular.

The bomb exploded near a girls’ school which was situated in a majorly Shiite district of Western Kabul, killing 40 people including students between ages 11 to 15.

The images shared on social media by the locals clearly showed the heavy clouds of smoke rising above the community.

Ambulances rushed to the scene of blast in the neighborhood of Dasht-e-Barchi to evacuate the wounded, the interior minister told.

No one has yet accepted the responsibility for the bomb blast.

An extremist group has previously claimed attacks against minority Shiites in the same area, last year claiming two brutal attacks on education facilities that killed 50 people, most of them students.

Earlier, scores of militants were killed in Afghanistan's Baghlan province as government forces launched a counter-offensive to repel the attacks, a police official said on Friday.

Last year, and in 2018, IS suicide bombers struck tuition centres in the area killing more than 70 people. IS is not part of the peace talks between the Taliban and Afghan government, which in any case are currently stalled.

As of yet, there's been no claim for the attack on Saturday. However, IS continues to carry out assassinations and bombings in Kabul and the city of Jalalabad, despite having recently lost much of the territory it once controlled in the east of the country.