The victims of the Kabul education center attack on Saturday were laid to rest in various parts of the city on Sunday. Most of them were young students from low-income families who were studying at Kawsar education center in Dasht-e-Barchi, in western Kabul city. 

The majority of the victims were laid to rest at a cemetery in the west of Kabul.

 In 2018, the Dasht-e-Barchi area witnessed an attack on an education center that killed dozens of students.

Belongings of the Kawsar education center’s students, mostly books and pens, were strewn around the blast site after the attack.The attacker was recognized before reaching the entrance gate of the education center and so he presumably detonated his explosives before he intended. The person who stopped the attacker also lost his life in the blast.

The family of Eid Mohammad Mohammadi, who was killed in the attack, said Mohammadi and other members of his family were working as carpet weavers to pay their living expenses and for education. Mohammadi was in his 11th year of school.

“They are killing our youth,” said Rahima, a relative of a victim.

“We are the poorest and we were targeted because (our child) wanted to study,” said Mohammad Jan, the father of a victim.

Aref, another victim of the attack, was in his last year of school and wanted to help his family financially by getting an education and enrolling at a university, his family members said. 

“He had many ambitions… He wanted to study abroad and help his family,” said Azizullah, Aref's brother.  

“The government cannot protect the people. What will we do with this government?” asked Mohammad Husain, the father of a victim. 

According to victims’ families, most of those killed and wounded were those who came from Ghor, Ghazni, Daikundi and Bamiyan to study at the center and earn high scores in the university entrance exam. They were paying rent for rooms.

“They are those who leased their land to send their sons and daughters to get an education. Does it mean that our sin was education?” asked Fahim Muradi, a student at the center.

“The enemy wants to bar us from education. It wants us to quit education, but this is impossible,” said Latif Ibrahimi, a student at the center.

Another victim was Husain, who was an orphan. He was laid to rest by his relatives.

“Husain was the most talented classmate in the Kawsar-e-Danish education center and he wanted to be at the top of the university entrance exam,” said Husain’s uncle.

Another student was laid to rest and only remnants of his body were available, according to TOLOnews’ Anisa Shaheed, who covered the funeral ceremony of the victims on Sunday.

“I talked to him the other night. I asked him to not go (to the center) because the center will be attacked,” said Mohamad Hadi, a victim’s father.