Explosion at school in Kabul injures at least 42 children, UN says

KABUL, Afghanistan — An explosion at a school in western Kabul injured at least 42 children, the United Nations mission in Afghanistan said. The victims are between 9 and 14 years old, according to the mission. The blast occurred at a school in the Dasht-e-Barchi area in the western part of the capital, the UN mission said in a written statement. A UN mission spokesperson told AFP that the circumstances of the incident had not yet been confirmed, describing conflicting information about whether it was an attack or involved unexploded ordnance. The United Nations said decades of conflict have left unexploded ordnance scattered across Afghanistan, placing the country third worldwide for ordnance-related casualties. The mission called for an investigation and stressed that schools must remain safe spaces. Kabul police spokesperson Khalid Zadran said specialized teams had been dispatched to the site and that an investigation was ongoing. Dasht-e-Barchi has been the scene of past attacks, including a 2021 bombing outside a girls' school that killed at least 90 people.