Acid attack on Afghan schoolgirls; 15 hurt

Written by Writer on Thursday, November 13th, 2008

Acid attack on Afghan schoolgirls; 15 hurt

KANDAHAR (AFP) - Attackers used a water pistol to spray acid at schoolgirls in Afghanistan’s southern city of Kandahar Wednesday, hurting 15 of them, three seriously, the education ministry said. Two teenage sisters were badly injured in the attack, one of them told an AFP reporter at a hospital in the city, which has suffered a series of assassinations and bombings by the radical Taliban movement.

“We were on the way to school when two men on motorbikes stopped next to us. One of them threw acid on my sister’s face. I tried to help her and then they threw acid on me too,” 16-year-old Atefa said.

“We were shouting and people came to see what was going on, then the two men escaped,” she said.

All the girls had been wearing burkas, garments that cover the entire body including the face, without which few women dare venture into public in most of Afghanistan.

Atefa, who did not give her family name, was hurt and her sister, 18-year-old Shamsia, remained in a serious condition with acid burns across her face.

Education ministry spokesman Hamed Elmi said the attack was outside the Mirwais Nika Girls High School.

“At about 8:00 am unknown people sprayed acid at girls with a toy gun,” he said. “Fifteen girls have been wounded or affected and three of them are in a very critical condition.” It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack.

Under Taliban rule between 1996 and 2001, girls were barred from going to school.

Since they were ousted, hundreds of schools have been attacked in Afghanistan and dozens of teachers and pupils killed in incidents blamed on extremist insurgents.

Atefa said she did not know why anyone would have attacked her and the others.

“I don’t know why they did it,” she said. “Kandahar is not safe. But we can’t stay home, we want education. We need help from the government.”

Nawaiwaqt Group of News Papers