Afghan Girl’s School Suffers Suspected Poison Attack
April 27th, 2010 - 2:10 am ICT by Angela Kaye MasonApr 26 (THAINDIAN NEWS) So far the count is up to thirteen for the number of girls which have fallen ill after a suspected poisonous gas attack which was made on an all girl’s school in northern Afghanistan. According to reports, the Afghan government has accused the same Taliban fighters, which have expressed their disapproval of females receiving education, of pumping poisonous gasses into this school.
The incident which occurred on Sunday is the third such problem in the Kunduz province. It makes the total number of girls which have had such symptoms as headaches, vomiting and shivering after smelling a “strange odor to 80. Girls from 47 different schools have reported these types of symptoms on Saturday, and 23 others had reported them earlier, on Wednesday.
A twelve year old girl named Sumaila said that she was in class when “a smell like a flower reached my nose. I saw my classmates and my teacher collapse and when I opened my eyes I was in hospital.” Fauzia, a 13-year-old girl and one of those affected in the latest incident, said when she stepped out of the classroom she “smelled a strange odour and then fainted. I don’t think my parents will allow me to attend the school after
this incident,” she said. Waheed Moer, who is a spokesman for the Afgan president, Hamid Karzai said that the anti-government groups who are so against girls getting an education were to blame.
A Taliban spokesman, however, has denied any involvement in the attacks and states that they are not attacking school girls, instead condemning the attacks. During the Taliban rule, from 1996 to 2001, girls were banned from attending school at all. Girl’s schools have been attacked in similar ways ever since they were allowed open. In an attack which occurred in Kandahar in 2008, approximately 15 girls and teachers were sprayed with acid when men on motorbikes rode by them spraying the chemical. There are still parts of southern and eastern Afghanistan which still forbids females to attend school, especially in Taliban strongholds.
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Tags: afgan, afghan girl, afghan government, classmates, collapse, eastern afghanistan, gasses, government groups, hamid karzai, kandahar, kunduz province, moer, northern afghanistan, odour, poisonous gas attack, president hamid karzai, school girls, strange odor, taliban fighters, taliban spokesman