85 Shia Hazara schoolgirls killed in a horrific terror attack by ISIS

Shia Hazara community is an ethnic minority in Afghanistan, the area where the attack took place – Dashte Barchi region is predominantly populated by the members of this ethnic minority and for long has been attacked by members of the Sunni terrorist group ISIS.

ISIS views this sect as heretics and hence persecutes them. The Taliban too opposes girl child education hence targets them.

The Sayed al-Shuhada school teaches students of both genders in different shifts, at the time of the attack the girl’s shift was going on. A car laden with a bomb first exploded in front of the school as the students were about to leave. After the first explosion, two more IEDs went off in the vicinity of the same school.

These attacks claimed 85 innocent lives while 160 others were wounded, authorities say the innocent victims were aged mostly between 12 and 20 years old. Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the terrorist attack calling Tuesday, May 11, 2021, a national day of mourning in wake of the incident.

One of the residents of the area was quoted by AFP as saying: “I rushed to the scene and found myself in the middle of bodies. All of them were girls. Their bodies piled on top of each other.”

One survivor, Zahra, told reporters she was leaving the school as the blasts took place.
“My classmate died. A few minutes later there was another explosion, and then another. Everyone was screaming and there was blood everywhere,” she said.

Many of the residents of the area and family members of the victims held President Ghani responsible for the attack and raised loud chants against the Afghan government and security forces for their inaction in providing adequate security and resources to them. The residents said the government has not done enough to secure Dashte Barchi, despite knowing it has repeatedly come under attack from militants belonging to ISIS.