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| Afghanistan |
| Afghanistan: Karzai orders arrests over girls school gas attacks |
| 2010-05-13 |
| [ADN Kronos] (AKI) - Afghan president Hamid Karzai has ordered security officials to arrest those responsible for recent poison attacks on girls' schools in the northern city of Kunduz and in the capital, Kabul, Pajhwok Afghan News reported on Wednesday. The move came after 30 schoolgirls were rushed to hospital on Tuesday in Kunduz, some of whom were critical. It was the third such attack in the city in less than a month. No group has so far claimed the attacks. "Fatimah has been poisoned! Round up the usual suspects!" Karzai has directed the Kunduz provincial authorities to take all necessary measures to protect schoolchildren, the presidential office in Kabul said on Wednesday. "The elements who commit such inhuman acts against students are the enemies of the country and they want Afghans to be deprived of education and to live in darkness," it said in a statement. Karzai was on a four-day visit to Washington. The Taliban has been accused of carrying out suspected gas poisonings, but has denied the attacks. The World Health Organisation is assisting the Afghan ministry of health with its investigation of the poisonings and its experts are helping carry out environmental analysis and tests on blood samples, the United Nations said in a statement on Wednesday. Blood tests taken from girls affected by previous attacks have not yet yielded any results. The UN childrens' charity UNICEF is providing medication to girls who were taken ill and is working with the Afghan education ministry to improve school safety, the UN said. "I have asked all relevant UN entities to remain vigilant in the protection of schools and of all children's right to an education," said the top UN envoy to Afghanistan, Steffan de Mistura. Ideologically and politically motivated attacks against teachers, students and their familes and schools are on the rise in Afghanistan, according to the UN. The Taliban's strict form of fundamentalist Islam prohibits girls from attending school but their purported spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, has strongly condemned the poisoning incidents. |
| Posted by:Fred |