After a series of attacks in Iran
Around 60 schoolgirls poisoned in Afghanistan
06/05/2023 10:06 am
In Afghanistan, strangers break into a school and poison around 60 girls. These are taken to the hospital but are said to be in “good condition”. There have been reports of similar incidents in Iran in recent months.
In Afghanistan, according to the police, around 60 girls have been hospitalized after a poison attack on their school. A spokesman for the police in the northern Afghan province of Sar-i Pul said that strangers had broken into the school. When the girls came to class, they were poisoned. They are in the hospital but in “good condition”. Police did not comment on the poison used or who might have been behind the attack.
So far, no one has been arrested. Since the radical Islamic Taliban took power in 2021, most girls have only been allowed to go to school at primary school age. Young women are largely excluded from education. Years ago, there had already been a series of poisoning attacks on girls’ schools in Afghanistan, including allegedly poison gas. At the time of the attacks, an internationally supported government was still in power in Kabul.
In recent months there have been reports of a series of poisoning attacks on girls’ schools in Afghanistan’s neighboring Iran. Thousands of schoolgirls have fallen ill since November. Some politicians have suggested the girls may have been targeted by religious groups opposed to girls’ education.
In Iran, however, schoolgirls had also taken part in anti-government protests that began after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Amini died in police custody in mid-September 2022. She had previously been arrested by the so-called vice police because she is said to have worn her headscarf incorrectly.