The death toll from a bomb attack outside a school in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday has risen to 68, officials said on Sunday, with doctors struggling to care for 165 injured victims and families searching desperately for missing children.

Onlookers stand near the site of multiple blasts outside a girls' school in Dasht-e-Barchi on the outskirts of Kabul on May 9, 2021. (Photo: AFP)

Explosions on Saturday evening shook the neighbourhood of Dasht-e-Barchi, home to a large community of Shi'ites from the Hazara ethnic minority which has been targeted in the past by ISIL.

A car bomb was detonated in front of the Sayed Al-Shuhada school and two more bombs exploded when students rushed out in panic.

Officials said most of those killed were schoolgirls. Some families were still searching hospitals for their children.

President Ashraf Ghani on Saturday blamed Taliban insurgents but a spokesman for the group denied involvement and condemned any attacks on Afghan civilians.

Taliban insurgents announced on Monday a three-day ceasefire for the Muslim religious holiday of Eid this week, after weeks of increasing violence.

(With input from Reuters)