80 Primary School Girls Poisoned in Afghanistan
An education official in Afghanistan has said almost 80 girls were hospitalised after being poisoned at schools.
Nearly 80 girls were poisoned and hospitalized in two separate attacks at their primary schools in Afghanistan. The attacks took place in Sar-e-Pul province over 3rd and 4th June 2023. It is thought to be the first time this kind of assault has happened since the Taliban swept to power in August 2021 and began their crackdown on 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. Mohammad Rahmani, who heads the provincial education department said, “60 students were poisoned in Naswan-e-Kabod Aab School and another 17 - 20 were poisoned in Naswan-e-Faizabad School. Both primary schools are near to each other and were targeted one after the other. We shifted the students to hospital and now they are all fine. Rahmani said that the department's investigation is ongoing and initial inquiries show that the person who planned the poisoning had a personal grudge and paid a third party to carry out the attacks. However he did not elaborate and gave no information on how the girls were poisoned or the nature of their injuries. He also did not give their ages but said they were in grades 1 to 6.
Neighboring country Iran has been rocked by a wave of poisonings, mostly in girls' schools, since last 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.
