Terror At School, Six Dozens Of Afghan Students Rushed To Hospital For Poisoning

Afghan female student illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Daniel Wilkinson/US Department of State)

JAKARTA - About sixteen Afghan students were rushed to hospital for treatment, after poisoning at their school located in the northern region of the country, police said Monday.

The poisoning targeting a female school in the Province of Sar-e Pol, Afghanistan, comes after intense surveillance of girls' education in the war-torn country, since the Taliban took over and banned most teenage female students.

It was also after a wave of poison attacks on female schools in neighboring Iran.

"Some unknown people enter a female school... in Sancharak District... and poison the classes, when students come to class, they are poisoned," said Den Mohammad Nazari, spokesman for the Sar-e-Pol police, without elaborating on what material was used or who was suspected of being behind the incident..

Nazari said the students had been taken to the hospital but were in "good condition". No one was arrested.

It is known, in neighboring Iran, the poisoning incident in women's schools has left around 13,000 female students sick since November.

During the previous foreign-backed Afghan government, several poisoning attacks, including suspected gas attacks, also occurred in women's schools.

The Taliban government has prevented the majority of female students from attending high school and universities since taking power in 2021, sparking criticism from international governments and many Afghans.

However, Taliban authorities continue to open elementary schools for girls until about 12 years of age, saying they support women's education under certain conditions.