Afghan girls hit by suspected gas poisoning

Kabul: Thirty Afghan girl students were hospitalized Sunday due to possible gas poisoning in the northern province of Takhar, an official said, in the second such incident within week. "Up to 30 students with Bibi Maryam Girl High School were hospitalized after they showed symptoms of vomiting and several fell unconscious," an official of the provincial government told Xinhua.

An investigation has been initiated to find out what led to the incident. On Thursday, 17 students were hospitalized after a similar incident in a girl high school in the same city, 245 km north of Kabul. Several dozen gas attacks against girl schools have been reported across Afghanistan over the past couple of years. No group or individual has claimed the responsibility for the incidents so far. Radical Islamic groups and anti-government militants had in the past been blamed for such gas attacks. IANS