Afghan women protest Hazara 'genocide' after Kabul bombing

A bomber blew himself up on Friday at a Kabul study hall as hundreds of pupils were taking tests in preparation for university entrance exams in the city's Dasht-e-Barchi area.

Dozens of women from Afghanistan's minority Hazara community protested in the capital Saturday after a suicide bombing a day earlier killed 20 people -- mostly young women from the ethnic group.

A bomber blew himself up on Friday at a Kabul study hall as hundreds of pupils were taking tests in preparation for university entrance exams in the city's Dasht-e-Barchi area.

The western neighbourhood is a predominantly Shiite Muslim enclave and home to the minority Hazara community -- a historically oppressed group that has been targeted in some of Afghanistan's most brutal attacks in recent years.

Police said at least 20 people were killed but the United Nations has put the number at 24.

On Saturday about 50 women chanted, "Stop Hazara genocide, it's not a crime to be a Shiite", as they marched past a hospital in Dasht-e-Barchi where several victims of the attack were being treated.

Dressed in black hijabs and headscarves, angry protesters carried banners that read: "Stop killing Hazaras", an AFP correspondent reported.

Witnesses have told AFP that the suicide attacker detonated in the women's section of the gender-segregated hall.