At least six people were killed and eleven wounded on Tuesday when a suspected twin suicide bombing rocked two educational centers in a Shiite neighborhood of the Afghan capital Kabul. No group has yet claimed the attack. The first bombing happened at Abdul Rahim Shahid high school in Dasht-e-Barchi, a predominantly Shia Hazara area in West Kabul. Another bombing occurred at a nearby tuition center, reports said.

Local reporters were barred from the covering attacks, several journalists tweeted, and the details about the casualties were only provided by the Taliban officials. Confirming the attacks, Khalid Zadran, the spokesperson of Kabul Police, said the investigation was ongoing and added more casualties were feared.

The bombings, the first in recent months after a winter lull, reignited the fear among the country’s persecuted minority Hazaras who have been targeted by Sunni extremists repeatedly in the past.

Although the attack is yet to be claimed by any group, ISIS is known to have targeted schools and mosques in this Shiite area in the past. Last year’s attack on a girls’ school killed over 90 students.

The bombings also exposed the Taliban’s claim of improving the security in the country, and the ability to rein in the growing threat of a resurgent ISIS. The absence of major attacks in the last few months seems to have given a false impression about the success of the Taliban’s ability to face the ISIS challenge.

Abdul Basil, an expert on the Af-Pak region, and fellow at the National Technological Studies (NTU), Singapore, tweeted, “Judging ISKP through its numerical strength, org prowess or territorial holdings would be misleading.”

This came in reference to last year's brutal crackdown by the Taliban on alleged ISKP cells, which, many claimed, had managed to reduce the group’s strength significantly.

Basit further added, “the group [ISKP] invests in retaining the capability to mount large-scale attacks & use them to propel its propaganda. A huge dent in TB's claims of restoring order in Afghanistan.”

(SAM)