Taliban thow acid on eight Afghan schoolgirls
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Posted by David Murrell on 14:49:40 2008/11/12
Here is a story that is making headlines throughout the world.
Two points:
1. The Taliban did not thow acid on the two schoolgirls wearing full-length burkas;
2. Graeme Smith, the Globe and Mail's pro-Taliban reporter in Afghanistan, amazingly enough, actually criticized this latest terrorist attack. (He in the past has written many articles in the Globe supporting the Taliban). He is quoted in the CTV report posted below:
"This beautiful brown eyed girl will never see again," Smith told CTV Newsnet.
The CTV article:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081112/afghanistan_blast_081112/20081112?hub=TopStories
Bikers spray eight Afghan school girls with acid
Atifa Bibi, an Afghan school girl, recovers in a hospital after two men on a motorbike threw acid on her in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Nov 12, 2008. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)
CTV.ca News Staff
Updated: Wed. Nov. 12 2008 12:24 PM ET
Two men on a motorcycle hurled acid at a group of eight Afghanistan school girls Wednesday in a shocking attack that is making headlines around the world.
The girls were walking to school in broad daylight when the attacked occurred.
"The men on a motorbike were apparently unarmed but nobody stopped them," The Globe and Mail's Graeme Smith reported Wednesday from Kandahar Air Field.
Three of the girls have been hospitalized with serious burns and three others have been treated and released.
Two girls who were wearing full-length burkas were not harmed.
Video of two of the badly burned girls shows them both in a state of shock, with one barely able to open her eyes.
"This beautiful brown eyed girl will never see again," Smith told CTV Newsnet.
During the Taliban's rule, between 1996 to 2001, girls were banned from schools. They were also not allowed to leave their home without a male family escort.
Bibi Meryam, the aunt of a 14-year-old victim, said the family had not received any threats prior to the attack. However, she said she's considering keeping her girls at home until the security situation stabilizes in the country.
"They acknowledged that they might be waiting a very long time because security is not improving and they know that the move is shifting in Kandahar," Smith said.
Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, head of the Canadian army, said Wednesday that the Taliban will not win any friends with this type of behaviour.
"They're reverting back to the pure terror tactics that they use to exercise here a couple of years ago," Leslie told reporters. "For a while they tried to take us on... now they're going back to terrorizing their own population. "
Afghanistan's government also condemned the attack, calling it un-Islamic and perpetrated by the "country's enemies," a usual reference used to describe the Taliban.
"By such actions, they cannot prevent six million children going to school," the government said in a statement.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi has denied that the insurgents were involved.
With files from The Associated Press
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