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Taliban kill 2 in latest school attack
Taliban guerrillas attacked a high school in southern Afghanistan yesterday, killing a guard and a male teenage student, a witness said.Two attackers arrived at the school in Lashkargah, the capital of the troubled southern province of Helmand, just before noon, said the witness, Sargar Mohamed. âThey shot the watchman and opened fire on some teachers but didnât hit any, but they shot dead an 18-year-old student,â Mohamed said. They then went out firing into the air and called on people to obey their orders to shut down schools, saying they would be killed if they did not. Helmand police chief Abdul Rahman Sabir confirmed that Taliban gunmen had killed two people in their latest attack on a school. On Thursday, suspected Taliban guerrillas dragged a teacher from a classroom of teenagers in another district of Helmand and executed him at the school gate after he ignored their orders to stop teaching girls, police said. President Hamid Karzai called the killing of the teacher a âheinous act of terrorismâ. âI condemn it in the strongest terms,â he said in a statement. âThe enemies of Afghanistan must understand that their evil acts wonât close doors on schools in our country.â The Taliban banned education of girls during their years in power before being overthrown by US-led forces in late 2001. Meanwhile, hundreds of villagers clashed with police near Afghanistanâs capital to demand the release of six men they said were ordinary mullahs but whom police suspected were Taliban fighters, authorities said yesterday. The villagers rioted in Logar province just south of Kabul on Friday, breaking windows and throwing stones, deputy police chief Abdul Rasoul said. Gunfire was also heard coming from the mob, he said. The crowd claimed police had shot dead two of the protesters, Rasoul said, adding though that officers had only fired into the air and that no bodies had been found after the clash. âWeâve seen some blood at the scene of the riot but not any bodies to back up their claims. We are investigating everything,â he said. The protest erupted in the provinceâs Charkh district after police arrested the men, alleging they had been preparing to ambush a police convoy. âFour men were arrested on Thursday and two others on Friday. We suspect that they have links to Taliban,â Rasoul said. The men were being questioned, he said. âAn investigation will reveal whether theyâre Taliban or not.â Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-12-18 |
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