Morteza Nikoubazl / Reuters
A suspected poison-gas attack on a girls’ school has made 13 students sick in northern Afghanistan and the government says insurgents opposed to educating women may be responsible. The attack Sunday is the third in Kunduz province in less than a week, with a total of 80 girls sick with vomiting, headaches, and shivering. One 13-year-old girl says she remembers walking out of class, smelling a strange odor, and fainting. Her parents won’t let her go back to school. A 12-year-old girl said she smelled a floral scent before fainting. The hospital treating the girls says they’re all in stable condition after treatment. The Taliban denied any involvement in the attack, though girls’ schools are closed in Taliban strongholds of the east and south. Attacks on female students have been common in Afghanistan in recent years.