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| Afghanistan |
| Mass food poisoning leaves 360 sick |
| 2008-09-21 |
| At least 100 Afghan policemen and government officials, including a deputy provincial governor, were poisoned after eating their evening meal. A man claiming to be from the Taliban said he had carried out the mass poisoning but NATO's military force, which offered medical treatment, said it was believed to be a straightforward case of food poisoning. About 100 men fell ill in the eastern province of Nuristan late yesterday after eating iftar, the evening meal that breaks a day of fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, deputy provincial governor Abdul Halim said. They had all eaten food prepared in the kitchen of the governor which feeds some provincial authorities and police who guard the compound. "After we had our iftar, about 100 people felt really ill,'' he said. Many had fainted and about 360 people were treated were given medical treatment. Halim said he had also taken ill but had recovered by Sunday. The provincial police chief was however still being treated in a clinic, he said. The source of the poisoning appeared to have been the bread but it was being investigated. NATO's International Security Assistance Force, in Afghanistan to help the government defeat a Taliban-led insurgency, said about 160 people were treated at a clinic and 200 more at a local police station. "Although the cause of the illness is not fully understood it is believed to be a straightforward case of food poisoning and the matter is being investigated by the Afghan National Police,'' it said in a statement. A man who gave his name as Ajab Khan and said he was a Taliban commander in the region claimed responsibility for the poisoning and said 300 people had been affected. Nuristan is a rural and mountainous province on the border with Afghanistan. It has seen attacks by Taliban insurgents, with the radical faction of former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar also active there. |
| Posted by:Oztralian |
| #1 We shall dance the |
| Posted by: .5MT 2008-09-21 17:14 |