More than 120 schoolgirls poisoned in Afghanistan

Published time: May 23, 2012 11:55
Edited time: May 23, 2012 20:59
An Afghan schoolgirl receives treatment at a hospital after being poisoned in Takhar province May 23, 2012 (Reuters/Wahdat)

At least 120 schoolgirls and three teachers have been poisoned in Afghanistan, local police reported on Wednesday. The attack has been blamed on Taliban. The incident in the northern Takhar province is the second in several months.

­The attack appeared aimed at shutting down schools educating girls and women, which radicals deem inappropriate.

Perpetrators reportedly used an unidentified toxic powder to contaminate the air in classrooms. Police say evidence suggests that the substance was sprayed. The poisoning left dozens of Bibi Haji school students unconscious.

Last month a similar poisoning attack in Takhar province affected 150 schoolgirls, who drank contaminated water.

Afghanistan's intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), says the Taliban is behind such attacks and appears intent on closing schools ahead of a 2014 withdrawal by the NATO-led coalition.

"A part of their Al Farooq spring offensive operation is … to close schools. By poisoning girls they want to create fear. They try to make families not send their children to school," NDS spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said as cited by Reuters.

Afghanistan's Ministry of Education said last week that 550 schools in 11 provinces where the Taliban have strong support had been closed down by insurgents.

Education was forbidden for women in Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of the country in the wake of the Soviet withdrawal.

After the country was conquered by the US and its allies in 2001, females were allowed into school again.

But both students and teachers fall victim to radicals’ attacks, especially in the more conservative provinces of the country.

VOA Dari Radio
VOA Dari Radio

Comments (32)

Willie Champion 04.03.2013 18:57

With equality comes the obligations associated society in which one lives and this obligation should never be subordinated to personal comfort, position or wealth. Traditionally women have been denied, even in the U.S., equal rights while at the same time being dominated within their family structure. Yet there are a disproportionate number of women who are not contributing to the wellbeing of U.S. society even though they make up over fifty percent of the population. Such a divisional split weakens the possibilities of social equality. Twenty two of 100 U.S. Senators tells the tale with half of conservative views.

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Super John (unregistered) 30.05.2012 14:59

How long have our forces been in Afghanistan? And still school kids get poisoned and the Karzai government states women are 2nd class citizens.

In Pakistan Asia Bibi is in jail under sentence of death because she might have said something about a long dead (probably fictitious) arab bloke – her accuser was planning to change his mind until a chap was sent from London to let him know that she has to be murdered and he wasn’t to change his story.

Isn’ t it great that british people are dying in afghanistan while murderous religious freaks are living amongst us.
School Girls

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Ibarruri 26.05.2012 16:23

There have been many CIA trial runs of this type of chemical and biological substances attack , guess where, using the subway stations' air conditioning system in the United states with Americans as the Guinea pigs. Documentary evidence exists in Blaum's book, ROGUE STATE. Only the gullible and uninformed will buy the lie of the Taliban being the perpetrator. The truth is clear, that the invaders are the perpetrators and the Taliban are being framed to be despised for waging a just liberation struggle against the  imperialists.  

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