Several students killed after explosion at Afghan religious school

 At least 10 students have been killed after a bomb blast hit a religious school in northern Afghanistan, a Taliban official said.

The explosion occurred during Wednesday afternoon prayers at the Al Jihad Madrassa in Aybak, the capital of Samangan province.

Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor said a number of students were also wounded in the attack.

Images on social media showed the school hall littered with debris, with dead bodies and bloodstains on the floor.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.

Samangan province has a majority population of ethnic Uzbeks and most of the students at the school were young boys.

An affiliate of the so-called Islamic State (IS) group has been waging a campaign of violence in Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power in August 2021.

IS bombings in recent months have targeted Afghanistan’s Shiite Muslim minority, as well as Sunni mosques and madrassas.

In September, dozens of female school students were killed in a suicide bombing at a Kabul education centre.