At around 4 pm local time, a suicide car bomber detonated a VBIED packed with mortar shells outside the Sayed ul Shuhada High School in the western Dasht-e-Barchi district of Kabul. At least 68 people, mostly female students, were killed in the blast and 165 were wounded. President Ashraf Ghani blamed the Taliban insurgent group for carrying out the attack, but the group’s spokesman denied the insurgent group’s involvement and condemned the attack. The school is located in a Shiite Hazara ethnic minority neighborhood, which had been frequently targeted by the Islamic State branch known as Khorasan Province (IS-K). The attack came as Kabul is on high alert since US President Biden announced plans last month to pull out all US troops by September 11, after which the Taliban have stepped up attacks across the country.

At around 8:30 pm, former President Mohamed Nasheed who currently serves as the Speaker of the Parliament, was severely wounded along with one of his bodyguards in an IED explosion near his residence in the Neeloafaru Magu area in the capital Male. The IED hidden on a motorbike, exploded as Nasheed was about to get into his car. The two were taken to ADK hospital, where Nasheed underwent surgery. According to a local media outlet reports, at least four other people, including two security personnel and two passerby one of who is a British national suffered minor injuries in the explosion. At least one local media outlet stated that the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the failed assassination attempt on Nasheed. Following the attack, the nation Police Service raised its alert level and heightened security measures in the city. A team of Australian Federal Police investigators were sent to aid the local police with the investigation.

The bodies of a local anti-poaching Ranger along with the that of an Irish national and two Spanish nationals were found in the Arly National Park. The four were kidnapped a day earlier as they joined a Rangers patrol in the park. Both the Irish and Spanish governments confirmed the deaths of their nationals. An audio message that purports to be from the al-Qaida linked Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) jihadist group claimed responsibility for the attack. (nytimes.com, 27 April 2021 & reuters.com, 28 April 2021 & apnews.com, 27 April 2021)

Unidentified gunmen, suspected of being Islamist’s militants, ambushed a team of forest rangers –an anti-poaching wildlife unit—on the outskirts of the Arly National Park about 15Km/ 9 miles from the town Natiaboni in the southeastern Tapoa Province. The gunmen on two pickup trucks and a dozen motorcycles kidnapped one of the rangers along with an Irish national, Rory Young (54), who founded the Chengeta Wildlife Foundation NGO that trains anti-poaching units in Africa and two Spanish reports, David Beriain (44) and Roberto Fraile (47), who were documenting his efforts to protect wildlife. Two other rangers were wounded in the attack. The gunmen reportedly stole weapons, two military trucks and 12 motorcycles before fleeing. (reuters.com, 27 April 2021 & apnews.com, 27 April 2021)

At around 2:20 pm an attacker armed with a knife and shouting Allahu Akbar (god is great in Arabic) stabbed to death a 48-year-old administrative police employee at the entrance to the police station in Rambouillet, south-west of Paris. The attacker, a 36-year-old Tunisian national-- identified only as Gamal G--was shot to death by her colleagues. Though the attacker was not previously known to security agencies, anti-terror prosecutors have taken over the inquiry, and the killing is being treated as a possible terrorist attack. Witnesses said the man had been seen walking around while on his mobile phone outside the police station and he seized the opportunity to go in as the woman went through the security doors. Initial investigation revealed that the attacker watched videos glorifying acts of jihad just before carrying out his attack.

At approximately 10:15 pm local time, a suicide bomber detonated a VBIED at the parking lot of the Serena Hotel in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province. Five people were killed in the blast and 12 were wounded. The Chinese ambassador to Pakistan who was staying at the hotel, as all other the hotel guests were harmed. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming that the intended target were members of the security force stationed at the hotel. Police and Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) sources said that the suicide bomber was an Afghan national who had travelled from Spin Boldak to Pakistan for the bombing.