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| Afghanistan |
| School torched as attacks on education rise in southern Afghanistan |
| 2003-03-09 |
| A temporary school has been torched near the southern city of Kandahar, the latest in a string of attacks targeting education in the former Taliban stronghold, officials said Friday. "If they ain't ignorant, they ain't gonna be devout..." Kandahar education director Dawood Barak said tented classrooms at the Shah Mahmood Hotak school in the village of Shekh Mamado, five kilometres (three miles) south of the city, were set on fire by unknown attackers. âOne school tent was totally destroyed, another caught fire and was brought under control by villagers,â Barak told AFP. The incident on Tuesday came as another school in the Panjwari district to the east of Kandahar was looted and littered with so-called ânight lettersâ calling for an Islamic uprising against foreign forces in Afghanistan. Thank you, Mr Hekmatyar... Last week Barak himself was the target of an attack when a bomb planted in a ditch outside his residence in the centre of the city exploded blasting a chunk out of the house wall and injuring two passers-by. Barak said the attacks were probably the work of Taliban sympathisers. Both schools, who have supplies donated by the United Nations Childrenâs Fund (UNICEF), gave primary-level education to mixed classes of boys and girls. Oh, horrors! Quick, Ethel! My pills! âThis is the act of the enemies of Afghanistan. I have established 350 schools in this area and I will continue to strengthen my efforts against these people,â Barak said. Enemies of Afghanistan and of education... In Shekh Mamado, villagers said they would also stand defiant. âThey try to frighten us by doing these things, but this village will be united against our enemy and our children will receive an education,â said Mohammad Rahim, a teacher at the Shah Mahmood Hotak school. It's the jihadi way... Chulho Hyun, a spokesman for UNICEF in Kabul, said the organisation was looking into reports of the attack at Shekh Mamado but was |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 âOne school tent was totally destroyed, another caught fire and was brought under control by villagers,â Notice that the fire was brought under control by the villagers. These villagers are our allies. The villagers like these all across Afghanistan will help Karzai and the US get all the Talibannies. Islam is split and America is united. |
| Posted by: Jabba the Tutt 2003-03-09 22:00:21 |