At least 37 female students at a religious school in Yakwlang district of Bamyan province have been poisoned, according to multiple sources.
The incident occurred in the Sare Qol area of the district on Tuesday.
One of the school’s authorities, who requested anonymity, said that a female student mysteriously fainted at 10:00 AM on Tuesday. When her classmates went to assist her, they fainted too.
The female students are between 12 and 22 years old, according to the source.
The school’s teachers are all women, some of whom have been introduced by the de facto Taliban authorities, according to the source.
The source said some students who returned home after fainting experienced nausea. “There are no precise details yet about the cause and reason for the incident. Samples have been sent to provincial authorities, but the relevant departments have not yet provided information about the cause,” the source said.
Another local source, who also spoke anonymously, said that the poisoned students were transferred to the Nek hospital in the district’s central hospital and are undergoing treatment.
The health condition of four students has reportedly deteriorated, according to the source.
The source said Taliban forces are present at the hospital and are preventing relatives of the poisoned students from speaking with others.
“To maintain better control, they have gathered all of them in one place,” the source said.
“Several students who were discharged from the hospital yesterday had their conditions worsen today. They were initially taken to the Sare Qol health center and then transferred to the district’s central hospital.”
The source added that Taliban intelligence has summoned authorities from Ayatollah Sistani’s office in Yakawlang and interrogated them about the incident. Taliban local authorities have not yet commented on the situation.
Another source told Rukhshana Media that Taliban forces have arrested three local residents in connection with the incident.
The religious school is funded and managed by the office of Ayatullah Sistani, a senior Shia scholar in Iraq.
The incident follows a similar case on May 16, when more than 90 female students were poisoned in Keti district of Daikundi province.
