Victims buried as school blast death toll rises
THIS VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT
It should have been a place of learning for young Afghans, but on Saturday (May 8) afternoon it was the scene of a bloody attack.
Backpacks, text books, a pair of girls shoes: all remnants of an explosion outside a Kabul school.
Officials say the death toll has risen to 58, with doctors struggling to provide medical care to at least 150 injured.
An eyewitness told Reuters all but seven or eight of the victims were schoolgirls going home after finishing their lessons.
At a nearby hospital doctors tend to the injured and distressed relatives search for their loved ones.
This girl says they were just leaving school when "a car exploded".
Outside, people read the names of the victims.
Inside a morgue, a man looks for his relatives among the bodies.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani blamed the attack on Taliban insurgents on Saturday but a spokesman for the Taliban denied involvement, saying the group condemns any attacks on Afghan civilians.
Families of the victims blamed the Afghan government and Western powers for failing to put an end to violence.
The attack comes a week after remaining U.S. and NATO troops began exiting Afghanistan, with a mission to complete the drawdown by September 11, which will mark the end of America's longest war.
