Girls' schools come under attack in Afghanistan
( 2002-11-01 09:28 ) (7 )

Four girls' schools came under rocket or arson attack near the Afghan capital during the weekend, causing some damage but no injuries, the UN children's fund (UNICEF) said Tuesday. Rockets were fired at two schools in the Maidan Shahr area in Wardak province Saturday night, while fires were also started in another Maidan Shahr school and one elsewhere in the province on the same night, UNICEF spokesman Edward Carwardine said.

The incidents were the latest in a series of attack on girls' schools in Afghanistan in the last two months, most coming in the south of the country, the former stronghold of the ousted Taliban regime.

Although the culprits for the latest attacks have not been identified, suspicion will naturally fall on sympathizers of the hard-line Islamic Taliban, who banned education for girls and put many other restrictions on women during their rule.

"One rocket was fired at the school of Fatima-Tul Zahra, damaging a ceiling in one corridor and starting a fire. The fire was put out by local villagers, and the school remains open for classes," Carwardine told Reuters, describing one of the attacks.

"UNICEF condemns it completely," he added. "Any incident which involves children and school is something to be concerned about. We don't know who is responsible. We take it very seriously and the government is taking it very seriously."

Maidan Shahr lies some 20 miles west of Kabul.