Bomb attack at Kabul education centre kills 24

AFP

A bomb attack at an education centre in Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Saturday has left 24 people dead and dozens more wounded.

A Ministry of Interior spokesman, Tariq Arian, said security guards had identified a bomber who detonated explosives in the street outside the Kawsar-e Danish centre.

Most of the victims were students aged between 15 and 26, according to the health ministry.

Fifty-seven were injured in the attack, the interior ministry said.

A Taliban spokesman on Twitter denied responsibility for the attack, which came at a sensitive time as teams representing the insurgents and the government meet to seek a peace deal.

The IS terror group claimed responsibility in a statement on Telegram, without providing evidence.

The attack, which was condemned by NATO and the Afghan government, took place in an area of west Kabul.

The latest attack came on the back of heavy fighting in multiple provinces in recent weeks, which has displaced thousands of civilians.

The US Special Envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad early on Sunday on Twitter called again for an immediate reduction in violence and an acceleration in the peace process, citing rising violence in the country in recent weeks including a finding by the human rights commission that an Afghan government airstrike had killed 12 children.

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