Afghanistan: 80 girls poisoned at schools, hospitalised

Kabul: As many as 80 girls were reportedly hospitalised after being poisoned at schools in Afghanistan, said an education official. According to Fox News reports, the incidents took place in the province of Sar-e-Pul in the north over Saturday and Sunday.

The information was provided by Mohammad Rahmani, the director of the provincial department of education. He said that the female pupils in grades 1 through 6 of a school were poisoned in the Sangcharak district. Around 60 children at Naswan-e-Kabod Aab School and 17 more at Naswan-e-Faizabad School had been poisoned, said reports.

“Both primary schools are near to each other and were targeted one after the other,” he said. The also informed that the students have been admitted to the hospital and their health condition is fine now.

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. However, he did not share further details on how the girls were poisoned or the nature of their injuries.

This is said to the first time this type of incident happened in the country after Taliban came took over Afghanistan in August 2021. After coming to power, Taliban has began it’s crackdown on the rights and freedoms of Afghan women and girls.

The crackdown attempts include ban of girls from education beyond sixth grade, including university. Women are also not allowed to do most jobs and public spaces, as per latest reports.

The attack serves as a reminder of a wave of poisonings in neighbouring Iran targeting school-age girls, dating back to November. Thousands of students said they were sickened by noxious fumes in the incidents. But there has been no word on who might be behind the incidents or what — if any, chemicals have been used, Fox News reported.