Summary A teenage suicide walked into a packed auditorium during a theater performance at school.
KABUL (AP) A teenage suicide bomber attacked a French-run high school in Kabul on Thursday, walking into a packed auditorium during a theater performance and killing a German citizen, Afghan officials said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying the performance underway was immoral.
It was the first attack on a foreign target in the Afghan capital in more than a week and came after a series of insurgent bombings in the past month targeted foreigners, killing a British embassy security and three members of a South African family.
Acting interior minister, Mohammad Ayoub Salangi said the person killed was German, while police chief Gen. Abdul Rahman Rahimi identified the victim as a man, without giving more details.
A German Foreign Ministry spokesman said the embassy in Kabul was in contact with Afghan authorities but that there was no reliable information at present on possible victims and their nationality. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with department rules.
Germany plans to deploy up to 850 soldiers to the NATO-organized training and advisory mission in Afghanistan from January, which will take over after the alliance s combat troops leave the country.
Thursday s attack took place inside the auditorium of the French Cultural Centre, which is on the grounds belonging to the Estiqlal High School, also known as the Lycee Estaqlal, run under contract by the French government.
Salangi said that 10 Afghan citizens were wounded in the attack, including journalists covering the event. The bomber, who wore explosives hidden in his clothing, was probably around 16 years old, Salangi added.
French President Francois Hollande said he condemned the "odious attack" and extended France s solidarity to the victims and their families. "By attacking this target, the terrorists were targeting culture and creativity," Hollande said.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said there were no French citizens among the wounded and urged that everything be done "to identify the authors of this barbarous act and bring them to justice."
At the time of the attack, the center was hosting a musical play entitled, "Heartbeat: Silence After the Explosion," written and performed by the local Azdar Theatre Company.
In their claim of responsibility, the Taliban said the play being performed was immoral, and held under the aegis of the "foreign invaders". All civil society gatherings were potential targets, the Taliban statement said.
One eyewitness said that the bomber walked into the cultural center s amphitheater 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 like many Afghans uses only one name.
Other witnesses said the explosion happened at the back of the hall, near an array of television cameras and journalists covering the event.
The head of Media Watch, an Afghan press freedom watchdog, Sidiqullah Thawhidi said that three journalists two cameramen and a reporter from Mitra Television Network were among the wounded.
Also among the wounded was Naser Sarmast, a renowned musician and head of the Musicians Institute of Afghanistan, according to the Education Ministry spokesman Kabir Haqmal.
"I was watching the drama, my students were preforming music, I heard a blast and fell down," Sarmast told The Associated Press. "I thought it was part of the drama, until I touched my head and saw that it was bleeding and I fell down again."
The school, which is close to the Presidential Palace in the heart of Kabul, was established in 1922 and used only French as a teaching medium until 1985. It is administered by Afghanistan s Education Ministry and is currently under contract to the French government s Agency for Teaching French Abroad.
French Embassy official Yves Manville said the French government funds the school and provides some of the teachers, focusing mostly on cultural activities.
Homan, who also uses one name and who was acting in the play, said it envisaged the aftermath of an explosion through the reincarnated souls of its victims.
"There was a big explosion and we just ran from the stage. It was horrible," Homan said.
Afghanistan s insurgency has intensified in recent months and the violence is expected to continue as the international military mission led by the United States winds down toward the end of the year.
U.S. and NATO soldiers will draw down to around 13,000 from Jan. 1, from a peak in 2010 of 140,000, as the Afghan security forces assume full sovereignty over the country s security.
Analysts say the Taliban are choosing foreign targets to ensure maximum publicity.
The attack followed a suicide bombing, also claimed by the Taliban, which targeted a military minibus earlier on Thursday. Six Afghan soldiers were killed in that explosion, and another 10 people were wounded, said Farid Afzali, the chief of criminal investigation for Kabul police, adding that the wounded included civilians.
"The suicide bomber was on foot," said Hashmat Stanikzai, spokesman for the Kabul provincial police chief.
