A hand grenade exploded Monday near an education center in Kabul's Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood, wounding dozens of children in the Afghan capital's main Hazara-minority district, according to Afghan police and the United Nations.

The United Nations confirmed at least 42 children were injured in the blast; Afghan media reports put the toll as high as roughly 50, with victims ranging from about 9 to 14 years old. Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said late Monday that "a number of children" had been wounded and that an investigation was underway, according to an Associated Press dispatch from Kabul.

UN: "Once again this mainly Hazara part of Kabul has been targeted"

UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric confirmed the casualty figures, and the UN's Afghanistan mission called for a full investigation into the attack. Richard Bennett, the UN's independent special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, condemned it directly: "Once again this mainly Hazara part of Kabul has been targeted. Deplorable!" he wrote, describing it as a "heinous attack harming numerous children near a school," per Al Jazeera's coverage.

"ONCE AGAIN THIS MAINLY HAZARA PART OF KABUL HAS BEEN TARGETED. DEPLORABLE!"

No group had claimed responsibility as of Tuesday. Dasht-e-Barchi has been the site of repeated, deadly attacks on the Hazara Shiite minority over the past decade, most infamously a May 2021 school bombing that killed dozens of mostly young girls. The Islamic State's regional affiliate, ISIS-Khorasan, has claimed several past attacks in the neighborhood, though authorities have not yet attributed Monday's grenade blast to any specific group.

Hazaras make up roughly 9% of Afghanistan's population and have faced sustained persecution under both the Taliban government and militant groups operating in the country. The community has repeatedly called for greater protection of its schools, mosques and gathering places after years of bombings and shootings, most of which have gone unsolved or unclaimed.

The attack comes amid a broader pattern of insecurity in Kabul even as the Taliban government maintains that overall violence has fallen since it took power in 2021. Rights groups have repeatedly disputed that narrative, pointing to sectarian attacks like Monday's as evidence that religious and ethnic minorities remain acutely vulnerable, with little indication of accountability for past incidents in the same neighborhood.

Afghan authorities have not said whether any suspects have been identified, and it remains unclear how many of the wounded required hospitalization. The UN said it would continue monitoring the investigation and renewed its call for accountability for attacks targeting Afghan civilians, particularly children.