"Most Victims Are Girls": Eyewitnesses On Kabul Blast That Killed 19

Most of the casualties from a suicide bombing that struck a learning centre in the Afghan capital on Friday were girls, a student who was wounded in the attack told AFP.

"We were around 600 (students) in the classroom, but most of the casualties are among girls," the male student said at a hospital where he was being treated.

A suicide bomb attack at a learning centre in the Afghan capital on Friday killed 19 people as students prepared for university entrance exams, police said.

The blast happened in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood of western Kabul, a predominantly Shiite Muslim area home to the minority Hazara community, the targets of some of Afghanistan's most deadly attacks.

"Students were preparing for an exam when a suicide bomber struck at this educational centre. Unfortunately, 19 people have been killed and 27 others wounded," Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said.

The Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan last year brought an end to the two-decade war and a significant reduction in violence, but security has begun to deteriorate in recent months.

Afghanistan's Shiite Hazaras have faced persecution for decades, with the Taliban accused of abuses against the group when they first ruled from 1996 to 2001.

Such accusations picked up again after they swept back to power.

Last year, before the Taliban returned to power, at least 85 people - mainly girl students - were killed and about 300 wounded when three bombs exploded near their school in the area.