Schoolgirls, teachers poisoned at Afghanistan high school

Medical and government officials in Afghanistan are reporting that dozens of teachers and girls were sickened by poison gas at a high school. The latest incident, which hospitalized 59 students and 14 teachers, is the ninth such case involving the poisoning of schoolgirls, said a spokesperson for the nation’s education ministry. Many Afghan girls were not allowed to attend school during the Taliban’s rule from 1996 to 2001. Girls’ schools began reopening after the Islamist regime was toppled, but a report compiled last year by the humanitarian agency CARE documented an “alarming trend” of 670 education-related attacks in 2008, including murder and arson.

CNN