<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;">A suicide attack at a learning centre in the Afghan capital killed 19 people as students prepared for exams on Friday morning, police said.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The blast happened in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood of western Kabul, a predominantly Shiite Muslim area home to the minority Hazara community, the scene of some of Afghanistan's most deadly attacks.</div><div><br></div><div>"Students were preparing for an exam when a suicide bomber struck at this educational centre. Unfortunately, 19 people have been martyred and 27 others wounded," police spokesman Khalid Zadran said.</div><div><br></div><div>Videos posted online and photos published by local media showed bloodied victims being carried away from the scene.</div><div><br></div><div>"Security teams have reached the site, the nature of the attack and the details of the casualties will be released later," the interior ministry spokesman Abdul Nafy Takor earlier tweeted.</div><div><br></div><div>"Attacking civilian targets proves the enemy's inhuman cruelty and lack of moral standards."</div><div><br></div><div>The Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan last year brought an end to the two-decade war and a significant reduction in violence, but security has begun to deteriorate in recent months under the hardline Islamists.</div><div><br></div><div>Afghanistan's Shiite Hazaras have faced persecution for decades, with the Taliban accused of abuses against the group when they first ruled from 1996 to 2001.</div><div><br></div><div>Such accusations picked up again after they swept back to power.</div><div><br></div><div>Hazaras are also the frequent target of attacks by the Taliban's enemy the Islamic State group. Both consider them heretics.</div><div><br></div><div>Countless attacks have devastated the area, with many targeting children, women and schools.</div><div><br></div><div>Last year, before the return of the Taliban, at least 85 people -- mainly girl students -- were killed and about 300 wounded when three bombs exploded near their school in Dasht-e-Barchi.</div><div><br></div><div>No group claimed responsibility, but a year earlier IS claimed a suicide attack on an educational centre in the same area that killed 24, including students.</div><div><br></div><div>In May 2020, the group was blamed for a bloody gun attack on a maternity ward of a hospital in the neighbourhood that killed 25 people, including new mothers.</div><div><br></div><div>And in April this year, two deadly bomb blasts at separate education centres in the area killed six people and wounded at least 20 others.</div><div><br></div><div>Education is a flashpoint issue in Afghanistan, with the Taliban blocking many girls from returning to secondary education, while the Islamic State also stand against the education of women and girls. AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/kh</div>