25 April 2010 – Scores of Afghan schoolgirls were knocked unconscious or made ill over the weekend by suspected poison gas attacks on their schools and authorities are blaming insurgents who oppose educating girls. Provincial police chief Abdul Razzaq Yaqubi said about 48 girls and several teachers had become ill suddenly and many collapsed after smelling poison gas at a school in the northern city of Kunduz on Saturday. Humayum Khamosh, a doctor at a Kunduz hospital, said another 13 girls fell ill after an attack at another school on Sunday. The Taliban banned all education for girls when they ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001, and schooling for females remains a controversial issue in much of Afghanistan. Similar attacks have been carried out in other parts of Afghanistan over the past few years, including areas where there is little Taliban presence.
