Blasts Near Kabul Schools Kill at Least 6 Civilians, Hurt 11

Medical staff move a wounded youth on a stretcher inside a hospital, Kabul, Afghanistan, April 19, 2022. (AFP)
Medical staff move a wounded youth on a stretcher inside a hospital, Kabul, Afghanistan, April 19, 2022. (AFP)
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Blasts Near Kabul Schools Kill at Least 6 Civilians, Hurt 11

Medical staff move a wounded youth on a stretcher inside a hospital, Kabul, Afghanistan, April 19, 2022. (AFP)
Medical staff move a wounded youth on a stretcher inside a hospital, Kabul, Afghanistan, April 19, 2022. (AFP)

Explosions targeting educational institutions killed at least six people, including students, and injured 11 Tuesday in a mostly Shiite neighborhood of Afghanistan's capital city, police said.

The blasts, which occurred in rapid succession, were being investigated and more casualties were feared, according to Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran and the city's Emergency Hospital. Several of the wounded were in critical condition.

The explosions occurred inside the Abdul Rahim Shaheed High School and near the Mumtaz Education Center several kilometers (miles) away, both in the predominately Shiite neighborhood of Dasht-e-Barchi. There were no immediate reports of casualties at the Mumtaz Center.

Guards in the narrow street leading to the two-story high school said they saw 10 casualties. Inside the school, an Associated Press video journalist saw walls splattered with blood, burned notebooks and children's shoes.

The AP spoke to several private guards in the area but they refused to give their names, fearing repercussions from the Taliban security force cordoning off the area.

It appeared a suicide bomber blew himself up inside the sprawling compound, which can house up to 1,000 students, witnesses said. It wasn't immediately clear how many children were in the school at the time of the explosion.

The school is teaching students only until the sixth grade after Afghanistan's hardline Taliban rulers went back on a promise to allow all girls to attend school.

No one has immediately claimed responsibility. The area has been targeted in the past by Afghanistan’s deadly ISIS affiliate.



Russian Helicopter with 22 on Board Goes Missing in Far East

A Russian Mi-24 helicopter flies at the Russian military base of Hmeimim, located south-east of the city of Latakia in Hmeimim, Latakia Governorate, Syria. (File photo: AFP)
A Russian Mi-24 helicopter flies at the Russian military base of Hmeimim, located south-east of the city of Latakia in Hmeimim, Latakia Governorate, Syria. (File photo: AFP)
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Russian Helicopter with 22 on Board Goes Missing in Far East

A Russian Mi-24 helicopter flies at the Russian military base of Hmeimim, located south-east of the city of Latakia in Hmeimim, Latakia Governorate, Syria. (File photo: AFP)
A Russian Mi-24 helicopter flies at the Russian military base of Hmeimim, located south-east of the city of Latakia in Hmeimim, Latakia Governorate, Syria. (File photo: AFP)

A Russian helicopter with three crew members and 19 passengers on board has gone missing in the far eastern peninsula of Kamchatka, the emergencies ministry said on Saturday.

The Mi-8T helicopter took off from a base near the Vachkazhets volcano and the crew failed to report at the scheduled time of 04:00 GMT, Interfax news agency reported, citing the federal air transport agency, Reuters reported.

The emergencies ministry said the search and rescue operation was being hampered by thick fog in the area.

Kamchatka, which is nine hours ahead of Moscow, is a popular tourist destination, known for its pristine rivers, geysers and volcanoes.