After Iran, nearly 80 schoolgirls poisoned, hospitalised in northern Afghanistan
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Kabul: Nearly 80 girls were poisoned and hospitalised in two separate attacks at their primary schools in northern Afghanistan, a local education official said on June 4.
According to reports, the incidents happened over Saturday and Sunday in the province of Sar-e-Pul in the north.
Mohammad Rahmani, the director of the provincial department of education, said the poisoning had occurred in the Sangcharak district among female pupils in grades 1 through 6. Nearly 60 children at Naswan-e-Kabod Aab School and 17 more at Naswan-e-Faizabad School had been poisoned, Fox News reported.
"Both primary schools are near to each other and were targeted one after the other," he told AP adding that "We shifted the students to the hospital and now they are all fine."
The incident is thought to be the first of its kind assault which has happened since the Taliban swept to power in August 2021. Since then, the Taliban have been trying to curb the rights and freedoms of Afghan women and girls.
Girls are banned from education beyond sixth grade, including university, and women are barred from most jobs and public spaces.
The department's investigation is ongoing and initial inquiries show that someone with a grudge paid a third party to carry out the attacks, Rahmani said.
Neighbouring Iran has been rocked by a wave of poisonings, mostly in girls' schools, dating back to last November. Thousands of students said they were sickened by noxious fumes in the incidents.
So far, there has been no word on what might be behind the incidents or what, if any, chemicals have been used.
