Over 80 Afghan schoolgirls fall ill in suspected gas-poisoning

KUNDUZ - More than 80 schoolgirls have fallen ill in less than a week in northern province of Kunduz, where authorities said Sunday that they were investigating whether the girls were intentionally poisoned.

The latest case revealed Sunday when 13 girls fell ill at a school in Kunduz city, the capital for province of the same name, Humayun Khamoosh, head of Central Hospital in the province said.

He said the girls were complaining of symptoms like headaches, vomiting, and shivering, but after the initial treatment they were in stable condition.

The incident came a day after around 47 girls and three of their teachers were brought to city’s hospitals after they complained of feeling dizzy and nauseous. Around 20 other girl students were hospitalised with the same symptoms last week.

“When I came out of class during the break time today, I smelled strange odour and then fainted,” said a 13-year-old girl, who introduced herself with a single name Fauzia.

“I dont think my parents will allow me to attend the school after this incident,” Fauzia, who was lying in a hospital bed, said.

Wary of the repeat of the attack, around 1,500 girls did not show up in Khadeja-tul-Kubra high school, where the Saturday incident took place, a teacher of the school, who did not want to be named, said.

Abdul Muqeem Halemi, head of education department of the province, blamed Taliban militants for spraying gas poison in school in a bid to discourage families from sending their children to schools.

Azizullah Safar, head of public health department of Kunduz said blood samples were inconclusive, but they planned to send the samples to Kabul or possibly to a foreign country for further testing.

Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, speaking by phone from an undisclosed location denied that their fighters were involved in the attack, saying that the movement “strongly condemns such acts”.

During their reign in Afghanistan from 1996-2001, the Taliban banned all girls schools, while women were not allowed to be seen in public unless covered up and accompanies by male members of their families.

Dozens of girls’ schools in southern Afghanistan, where the militants are most active, remained shut in the past several years, while students and their teachers were threatened, killed and attacked by acid.

Similar suspected gas-poisoning attacks have been reported in other parts of the country in the past three years, but authorities were unable to find their cause.