Afghan schoolgirls poisoned in suspected Taliban gas attack

Dozens of Kabul schoolgirls were admitted to hospital yesterday after a suspected poison gas attack on their school, officials said.

“Today at around 9.30a.m. around 55 people, including nine teachers and 46 students at the Totya Girls’ High School, following an apparent poisoning incident, were taken to hospital,” education ministry spokesman Mohammed Asef Nang said.

“They are in stable condition,” he said, adding that some had become dizzy and others lapsed into unconsciousness.

The suspected attack is the fifth such incident this year in Kabul and the eleventh nationwide, officials said, though they could not confirm the exact cause.

Blood tests from girls affected in previous incidents had not yielded any conclusive results, they said.

Some observers have speculated that they were cases of mass hysteria, though Mr Nang said that yesterday’s incident was “an act of cowardice by enemies of women and education,” a reference to the Taliban.

“This is not an accident. Similar incidents have happened in girls’ schools before. We think there are groups who do not tolerate development and progress – their aim is to prevent girls from going to school,” said Mr Nang.

Fifteen-year-old Ruqia, who was hospitalised after the incident, said: “I smelled something very, very foul as I was sitting in my classroom. I saw my classmates falling down, my vision got blurred and I heard everyone screaming before I became unconscious.”

Police said the incident was under investigation.

The Taliban banned female education and work during their brutal 1996-2001 rule.