What do we know about the Kabul school explosion that injured 42 children?

An explosion at an education centre in Kabul injured at least 42 children aged nine to 14 on Monday, 17 August, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan confirmed. The immediate practical message for anyone in Belgium with relatives or professional contacts in the Afghan capital is to verify their safety through trusted local contacts rather than travel there: Belgium formally advises against all journeys to Afghanistan and has no embassy in Kabul.

The blast occurred at the Shahrak-e-Mahdia education centre in Dasht-e-Barchi, a predominantly Hazara district in western Kabul. UNAMA called for an investigation to establish exactly what happened and stressed that schools and education centres must be safe. UNICEF repeated that appeal on 19 August, saying the injured pupils were between nine and 14 years old and reminding the authorities that schools are protected under international law.

Kabul police spokesperson Khalid Zadran told reporters that a hand grenade had exploded and that an investigation was under way, according to the Associated Press. Some accounts described a grenade thrown into or detonating within the school area, while other early reporting raised the possibility of unexploded ordnance. No sufficiently substantiated public finding has yet established whether the explosion was a deliberate attack, an accident or the detonation of abandoned ammunition. No group had credibly claimed responsibility in the authoritative reporting reviewed for this article.

That distinction matters. Dasht-e-Barchi is home to many members of Afghanistan’s Hazara community, an ethnic group whose members are predominantly Shia Muslims. The district has repeatedly suffered attacks by Sunni extremist organisations, including Islamic State’s regional affiliate. This history makes fears of another targeted attack understandable, but it does not by itself prove a motive or identify a perpetrator in this case.

A neighbourhood carrying an old burden

Schools in western Kabul have become symbols of both aspiration and vulnerability. In May 2021, multiple explosions outside the Sayed al-Shuhada school in Dasht-e-Barchi killed dozens of people, many of them schoolgirls. Other education centres serving Hazara pupils have also been attacked. Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, described the latest incident as harming children in a mainly Hazara area and called for an independent investigation and accountability.

The explosion also lands in an education system already divided by Taliban policy. Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban authorities have barred girls from secondary and higher education. The UN says Afghanistan remains the only country where such restrictions prevent girls and women from progressing beyond primary-level schooling. For younger children who can still attend, violence around a classroom compounds the obstacles created by poverty, displacement and an underfunded humanitarian response.

The Associated Press reported that roughly two-thirds of some 900,000 children recently returned to Afghanistan, mainly from Pakistan, were out of school. That figure describes a wider emergency rather than the circumstances of the injured Kabul pupils, but it shows why the loss of safety at even one education centre carries consequences beyond its gates. Families may keep children home, while teachers and private learning centres must operate under growing pressure.

What this means for people connected to Belgium

Belgium’s role is secondary to the Afghan investigation and the care of the injured children. The Belgian connection is nevertheless practical for Afghan families in Antwerp, Ghent, Brussels, Liège and other communities who may be trying to contact relatives, as well as for Belgian humanitarian workers and dual nationals.

As of 23 August 2026, the FPS Foreign Affairs — FOD Buitenlandse Zaken in Dutch and SPF Affaires étrangères in French — advises against all travel to Afghanistan. Belgium has had no embassy in Kabul since 2015 and warns that consular assistance inside the country is extremely difficult or may be impossible. Belgians who remain there should register with the Belgian Embassy in Islamabad, which covers Afghanistan. Residents can use eConsul; travellers who have not relocated permanently should use the federal Travellers Online service.

In an immediate threat, people should first follow the security procedures of their employer or humanitarian organisation and contact dependable local emergency services where accessible. Belgian citizens or their families can then approach the embassy in Islamabad. Where Belgium has no accessible representation, EU citizens may seek help from another EU member state’s diplomatic mission, although the absence of normal diplomatic operations in Afghanistan severely limits what any mission can do.

Families in Belgium dealing with administrative consequences — for example, documents relating to an injured relative, family reunification or civil-status records — should contact their local commune or gemeente and the competent federal service before commissioning translations. Requirements can differ by procedure. In Brussels, services may be requested in Dutch or French; foreign Afghan documents may require translation by a sworn translator and separate checks on authenticity.

What happens next

The central questions remain factual: where the explosive device came from, how it detonated, whether anyone placed or threw it deliberately, and whether the pupils’ conditions have changed. UNAMA and UNICEF have asked for a thorough investigation, but the de facto authorities have not yet published findings detailed enough to resolve those questions.

Further reporting should therefore distinguish verified investigative results from community fears shaped by earlier atrocities. The priorities are medical care and psychological support for the children, credible protection around education facilities, and an inquiry capable of commanding trust among Hazara families. Until such evidence emerges, the confirmed account is grave but limited: at least 42 children were injured at their place of learning, and the cause remains unproven.