The explosion struck outside the Kawsar-e Danish educational center in west Kabul.  (Photo: Mohammad Ismail / Reuters)

Kabul, October 24 (RHC)-- At least 18 people were killed and dozens were wounded in a suicide bombing at an educational center in Kabul, Afghanistan’s interior ministry said.  The explosion struck outside the Kawsar-e Danish educational center in the Pul-e-Khoshk area of Dasht-e-Barchi in west Kabul.

The interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said the attacker was trying to enter the center when he was stopped by security guards and detonated his explosives.  Arian said the attack had left at least 18 people dead and 57 wounded.

The attack took place in an area that is home to many from the minority Shia community. The ISIL (ISIS) armed group has launched several attacks in Afghanistan on the Shia community, whom it views as apostates.

In the same area of Kabul, dozens of students died in an attack on another educational centre in 2018, and in May, gunmen attacked a maternity ward, killing 24 people, including mothers and babies.

The Taliban denied responsibility for the latest attack, which came at a sensitive time as representatives of the armed group and government meet in Qatar to seek a peace deal – even as violence has risen recently and the United States intends to withdraw its remaining troops from the country.