Kabul school blast and Rakhine insecurity keep civilian safety unresolved
Several students were injured in a Kabul school explosion, while Myanmar verified 308,797 Rohingya in Bangladesh but set no return date until security improves in Rakhine State.
Geopolitics··Morning
A school blast in Dasht-e-Barchi injures students
Several students were hurt in an afternoon explosion at the Shama-e Hidayat private school in the Mahdia neighbourhood of Kabul's Dasht-e-Barchi district, according to Kabul Now and TOLOnews, which reported that a hand grenade caused it. Al Jazeera said it had not been able to verify the reports independently or confirm how many were injured. No group has claimed responsibility and the Taliban government has not commented. Dasht-e-Barchi is home mainly to Afghanistan's Hazara community, which ISIS-K has repeatedly attacked at schools, mosques and workplaces. The cause of the blast has not been established.[1]
Myanmar verifies 308,797 people and sets no return date
The military government's foreign ministry said it had verified 308,797 people in camps in Bangladesh as former residents of Rakhine State, out of 828,824 names submitted by 31 July. It said repatriation would proceed only when security conditions in Rakhine become more stable. Myanmar's army is fighting the Arakan Army in the state. Repatriation agreements in 2018 and 2019 produced no returns, and a separate arrangement to accept 5,000 asylum seekers from Malaysia remains conditional. More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh in 2017 after a military crackdown.[2]
Unverified names and the government's assertions
The ministry said 4,241 people on Bangladesh's list were alleged to have taken part in terrorist activity and that 113,507 could not be verified. Those are the Myanmar government's assertions and no independent assessment of them has been published. The verified 308,797 people and the unverified slice of 113,507 show that only part of the 828,824 names Bangladesh submitted is recognised by the government for return. Tying repatriation to security while fighting continues in Rakhine leaves families in the camps without a calendar. At Shama-e Hidayat in Kabul, local reports that Al Jazeera could not independently verify said students were injured; no group claimed the blast, the Taliban government stayed silent and the injury count was not confirmed.[2], [1]
