Afghanistan, Kabul, explosion in the school where dozens of girls took exams in the heart of the Hazara ethnic district

ROME - It is 22 patients including 18 girls, the toll of admissions to the Surgical Center for War Victims of EMERGENCY in Kabul, after the suicide attack that took place this morning, September 30, in a private training center for exam preparation in the Dasht-e-Barchi district, with a majority Hazara, in the 13 district of the capital. There are already 11 episodes that have caused the urgency of mass hospitalizations, in the last two months alone in the hospital founded by Gino Strada, and they have been 21 since the beginning of the year. According to an initial reconstruction by the authorities, the bomber would have made his entrance into the institution by killing the guard at the entrance and going to a classroom where he would have detonated the device. Official reports speak of over 30 dead and more than 40 injured.

The victims were all aged between 18 and 25. “Following the blast this morning, we admitted 22 patients to our Surgical Center for War Victims in Kabul, 18 of whom are girls. - explains Dejan Panic, in charge of the field activities of EMERGENCY in Afghanistan - the victims are all between the ages of 18 and 25, and most of them are girls who were in the classroom to take an exam. One of them arrived already deceased, another died after being hospitalized. In the last two months alone - added Panic - we have managed 11 procedures of extraordinary urgency in our Center following explosions and attacks. And even on a daily basis we continue to receive injuries from firearms, from shrapnel to shrapnel, from stabbing, especially stab wounds, from explosions of mines and improvised devices. In the country, therefore, a situation of strong insecurity and instability remains ”.

In less than a year 2,106 victims. After August 2021, in fact, the attacks in the capital continued, in particular terrorist attacks against places of worship and education by armed groups or caused by explosions of improvised devices. According to UNAMA - the United Nations Afghan People's Assistance Mission, established on March 28, 2002 by UN Security Council Resolution 1401 - in the period between mid-August 2021 and mid-June 2022 there were 2,106 civilian victims (700 killings , 1,406 injured) of attacks traced back to armed groups. EMERGENCY during this year he managed 21 mass hospitalizations in his Surgical Center for War Victims in Kabul, for a total of about 300 patients.

In 10 months, 16,000 hospitalizations and now 23 million hungry. One year after the abandonment of international forces and the establishment of the Taliban government in Afghanistan EMERGENCY has more than 16,000 admissions to hospitals in Kabul, Lashkar-gah, Anabah; 3,000 admissions in Kabul alone, where more than 90% were still victims of war. These are the numbers of the association's hospitals in a country that is now close to collapse with more than 23 million Afghans at risk of serious food insecurity, a devastating economic crisis, increasing poverty, crime and the need for essential services. "But EMERGENCY his work of caring for all remains and continues ", is specified in a note released by the humanitarian organization.

Who are the Hazara. A half Mongolian, half Caucasian population, likely descendants of Genghis Khan's army. According to other schools of thought, they are the true ancient inhabitants of Afghanistan, builders of the famous Buddhas of Bamiyan. The Hazaras speak a Persian dialect with some terms of Mongolian and Turkish origin and are largely Shiite Islamic religion. Although in the North and North-West of the country there are Sunni or Ismaili presences. From the point of view of their political location in Afghanistan, they support the Hizb-e Wahdat (Union Party) party whose charismatic leader, Abdul Ali Mazari, was captured and executed by the Taliban. There are some Hazara communities in Pakistan and Iran, but many emigrated, due to the persecutions suffered by the Taliban, both before and after their return to power.