Indonesia has condemned a series of attacks in Kabul that killed dozens of people, mostly students, making it the bloodiest terrorist act in more than a year and complicating a delicate peace process that Jakarta has been involved in over the past few years.

In a statement released by the government on Sunday night, the Foreign Ministry said: “Our heartfelt condolences and sympathy go out to the families of the victims and the people of Afghanistan."

A series of blasts outside a school on Saturday, during a peak holiday shopping period, killed more than 50 people, mostly female students, and wounded over 100 in Dasht-e-Barchi, a west Kabul suburb populated mostly by Hazara Shiites, AFP reported. Hazaras are Shiite Muslims and considered heretic by extremist Sunnis. Sunni Muslims make up the majority of Afghanistan’s population.

The Afghan government, led by President Ashraf Ghani, blamed the Taliban, but the insurgents denied responsibility and issued a statement saying the nation needed to "safeguard and look after educational centers and institutions".

Saturday’s blasts were the worst attack since the start of intra-Afghan negotiations last year, a landmark process only made possible after the United States promised the Taliban that it would withdraw its forces starting this month. However, Washington pushed back the date to Sept. 11 -- a move that has angered the insurgents, and violence has since soared.

Afghanistan interior ministry said on Monday that at least 11 people were killed by a bomb that struck a bus overnight in southeastern Zabul province, just hours before the Taliban announced a three-day ceasefire to mark this week’s Idul Fitri holiday.

Read also: Taliban declare Eid holiday ceasefire as Afghan violence soars

While denying involvement in Saturday's attack, Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada warned that any delay in withdrawing the troops was a "violation" of that deal.

“Indonesia will continue to support efforts to combat terrorism and bring about eternal peace in Afghanistan,” the Foreign Ministry said in the statement.

Indonesia has been involved in Afghanistan’s peace process for several years, most notably since President Ghani requested President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s assistance in 2017, especially to bring to bear its experience as the world’s largest Muslim majority country.

Indonesia has since been focusing on building two important elements in the peace process in Afghanistan -- the role of ulema and women's empowerment.

Read also: Indonesia keeps efforts to broker Afghan peace under wraps

Jokowi visited Kabul in 2018 and suggested the formation of a committee of religious scholars from Indonesia, Pakistan and Afghanistan to promote peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan. Later that year, Indonesia hosted the Afghanistan-Indonesia-Pakistan trilateral ulema meeting in Bogor, West Java.

A year later in 2019, then-vice president Jusuf Kalla met with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in an effort to broker peace between the Taliban and the Afghan government.

In December last year, Afghan peace council chief Abdullah Abdullah said he was hopeful that Indonesia would host the next inter-ulema dialogue that will also involve Taliban ulemas. Abdullah highlighted this expectation in Kabul at a meeting with Kalla in the latter's capacity as chairman of the Indonesian Mosque Council (DMI).

"Indonesia and Afghanistan share similarities in that ulema play an important role in the community. Our similar cultural characteristics and the understanding of religion is largely influenced by social and environmental factors. To that end, we appealed to JK [Kalla] to partake in the meeting," Abdullah said at the time.

Read also: Indonesia welcomes intra-Afghan peace talks

Indonesia is grouped with Qatar, Norway, Germany and Uzbekistan in “the quint” -- five countries that have committed themselves to continuous support for sustainable peace in Afghanistan. 

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi previously said that it was important to ensure the peace process was led and owned by the Afghan people, so that it left no one behind, including women. Last year, she launched the Indonesia-Afghan Women’s Solidarity Network together with Indonesian women leaders as a tangible effort to ensure women's participation in the future of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is among the first countries that acknowledged Indonesia’s independence in 1945, and it also helped Indonesia implement the Asia-Africa conference in 1955.