Death Toll Rises to 50 from Blasts Near Afghan Girls School

The attack on a girls' school in Kabul was the deadliest in more than a year ZAKERIA HASHIMI AFP
The attack on a girls' school in Kabul was the deadliest in more than a year ZAKERIA HASHIMI AFP
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Death Toll Rises to 50 from Blasts Near Afghan Girls School

The attack on a girls' school in Kabul was the deadliest in more than a year ZAKERIA HASHIMI AFP
The attack on a girls' school in Kabul was the deadliest in more than a year ZAKERIA HASHIMI AFP

The death toll from bombs planted outside a girls' school in an area of the Afghan capital rose to 50 Sunday as the Taliban denied government accusations that they were behind the bloody attack.

The Saturday's blasts -- the deadliest in more than a year -- rocked the west Kabul district of Dasht-e-Barchi.

It comes as the United States military continues to pull out its last 2,500 troops from the violence-wracked country despite faltering peace efforts between the Taliban and Afghan government to end a decades-long war, AFP reported.

Describing Saturday's carnage, Interior Ministry spokesman Tareq Arian told reporters that a car bomb first detonated in front of the Sayed Al-Shuhada School, and when the students rushed out in panic two more devices exploded.

He said more than 100 people were wounded, adding that most of the victims were female students.

Residents were out shopping ahead of this week's Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.

On Sunday relatives began burying the dead at a hilltop site known as "Martyrs Cemetery".

No group has so far claimed the attack, but Afghan officials including President Ashraf Ghani blamed the Taliban.

"This savage group does not have the power to confront security forces on the battlefield, and instead targets with brutality and barbarism public facilities and the girls' school," Ghani said in a statement after the blasts.

The insurgents have denied involvement and insist they have not carried out attacks in Kabul since February last year, when they signed a deal with the United States that paved the way for peace talks and withdrawal of the remaining US troops.

But the group has clashed in near-daily battles with Afghan forces in the rugged countryside even as the US military reduces its presence.

The United States was supposed to have pulled all forces out by May 1 under a deal struck with the Taliban last year, but Washington pushed back the date to September 11 -- a move that angered the insurgents.

The top US diplomat in Kabul, Ross Wilson, called Saturday's blasts "abhorrent".

"This unforgivable attack on children is an assault on Afghanistan's future, which cannot stand," Wilson said on Twitter.

In May last year, a group of gunmen attacked a hospital in the area in a brazen daylight raid that left 25 people dead, including 16 mothers of newborn babies.

On October 24, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a tuition center in the same district, killing 18 people in an attack that also went unclaimed.



Taiwan Strait Not China’s, Taipei Says after Canadian Warship Passes Through

A Taiwan Coast Guard ship travels past the coast of China, in the waters off Nangan island of Matsu archipelago in Taiwan August 16, 2022. (Reuters)
A Taiwan Coast Guard ship travels past the coast of China, in the waters off Nangan island of Matsu archipelago in Taiwan August 16, 2022. (Reuters)
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Taiwan Strait Not China’s, Taipei Says after Canadian Warship Passes Through

A Taiwan Coast Guard ship travels past the coast of China, in the waters off Nangan island of Matsu archipelago in Taiwan August 16, 2022. (Reuters)
A Taiwan Coast Guard ship travels past the coast of China, in the waters off Nangan island of Matsu archipelago in Taiwan August 16, 2022. (Reuters)

The Taiwan Strait does not belong to China and any attempts to create tension threaten global security, the island's defense ministry said on Monday, after Beijing criticized Canada for sailing a warship through the sensitive waterway.

The US Navy and occasionally ships from allied countries like Canada, Britain and France transit the strait, which they consider an international waterway, around once a month.

Taiwan also considers it an international waterway but China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, says the strategic waterway belongs to it.

Last week the first US Navy ships transited the strait since President Donald Trump took office last month, drawing an angry reaction from China, which said the mission increased security risks.

Taiwan's defense ministry said China had responded to those sailings by carrying out "joint combat readiness patrols."

"The Taiwan Strait is absolutely not within the scope of China's sovereignty," the ministry said in a statement.

Freedom of navigation by "friendly and allied" countries through the strait are concrete actions that highlight the strait's legal status, and China is trying to create a false appearance that the strait is an "internal issue," it added.

"Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is not only a matter of concern for Taiwan, but also a common concern for free and democratic countries around the world," the ministry said.

"Any deliberate attempts by the communist's military to create tension in the Taiwan Strait will pose a real threat to global security," the ministry said.

Neither China's defense ministry nor the Taiwan Affairs Office responded to requests for comment.

Taiwan has complained of repeated Chinese military activities near the island.

Its defense ministry said on Monday morning in its daily update of China's actions over the previous 24 hours that it had detected 41 Chinese military aircraft and nine ships around the island, concentrated in the strait and off Taiwan's southwest.

China's military lambasted Canada on Monday for sailing the warship through the strait.

Canada's actions "deliberately stirred up trouble" and undermined peace and stability in the strait, the People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theater Command said in a statement.

"Theater forces maintain a high level of alert at all times and resolutely counter all threats and provocations," it added.

Canada's Department of National Defense said in a statement that the Royal Canadian navy ship HMCS Ottawa recently conducted a transit throughout the Taiwan Strait.

"Canada has undertaken a number of transits through the Taiwan Strait to uphold the important principle of operating freely through international waterways in accordance with international law,” the department said.

Taiwan's defense ministry said on Sunday that the ship had sailed in a northerly direction, adding that Taiwanese forces also kept watch.

Taiwan's foreign ministry welcomed the sailing.

"Canada has once again taken concrete actions to defend the freedom, peace and openness of the Taiwan Strait and has demonstrated its firm position that the Taiwan Strait is international waters," it said on Sunday.

In October, a US and a Canadian warship sailed together through the strait, less than a week after China conducted a new round of war games around the island.

Taiwan's democratically elected government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying only that the island's people can decide their future.