German killed in 
suicide 
attack

Acting interior minister Mohammad Ayoub Salangi said he did not know if the person was a man or a woman.

The attack was carried out by a teenage suicide bomber who attacked the school during a music performance, also wounding up to 20 people.

It is the latest attack on a foreign target in the Afghan capital amid a stepped-up Taliban insurgency. It followed a suicide bombing that targeted a military minibus earlier yesterday.

The school bombing took place in the amphitheatre of the French Cultural Centre, which is inside the grounds of the Estiqlal High School, also known as the Lycee Estaqlal. The school is run on contract by the French government.

Mr Salangi said the attacker was about 16. Casualty numbers are expected to climb, he said.

“There was one killed and between 15 to 20 wounded,” said Kabul police chief General Abdul Rahman Rahimi. “Because of the smoke, it was impossible to identify the exact number of the casualties.”

One eyewitness said the bomber walked into the amphitheatre
as she was leaving and detonated his explosives inside the building.

“A lot of my friends are in there and I don’t know what has happened to them,” said Khadija, an artist who uses only one name.

Other witnesses said the explosion happened at the back of the hall, near television cameras and journalists who were covering the event. The Afghan Journalists’ Association said at least two journalists were among the wounded in the attack.