The head of the Canadian army in Afghanistan accused the Taliban of acting in "desperation" after a grisly acid attack by unidentified men on a group of schoolgirls and a suicide bombing that killed six people.
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 Mirwais Minna Girl's School in broad daylight in Kandahar when the attack 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 eight girls were hospitalized with serious burns and others have been treated and released. U.S. military spokesmen said at least two of the girls still in hospital were blinded.
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 Â鶹´«Ã½net.
Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, head of the Canadian army, said the Taliban is reverting back to the "pure terror tactics" that was more commons a few years back. "For a while they tried to take us on... now they're going back to terrorizing their own population," said Leslie.
Bibi Athifa, one of the girls who suffered acid burns to her face, said she and her friends were walking to school when two armed gunmen on a motorbike stopped.
"One guy squirted acid from a bottle on us," she said. "Nobody warned us. Nobody threatened us. We don't have any enemies," she said.
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.
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.
Bomb attack kills six
Meanwhile, at least six people are dead following a suicide attack outside an Afghan government office in Kandahar city on Wednesday, officials have confirmed.
The bomber, driving an oil tanker, detonated his explosives outside the building during a provincial council meeting.
Canadian soldiers were at the site when the blast occurred but there are no reports that any of them were injured.
Rahmatullah Raufi, the governor of Kandahar province, said two intelligence agents, a police officer and three civilians were killed in the blast.
Another 42 people were wounded following the blast, which flattened five nearby homes and damaged offices.
Raufi blamed the Taliban for the attack.
"The Taliban want to disrupt law and order in Kandahar," said Raufi.
Smith said the attack took place in a neighbourhood where the former head of the Afghan intelligence service has a house.
"One of his brothers was killed, another one was injured," said Smith.
"Although the victims were civilians they were civilians closely associated with the government and in this kind of a counter-insurgency that's seen as a legitimate target."
Canada's Ambassador to Afghanistan Ron Hoffman condemned the bomb attack on Wednesday.
"I think what it signifies for us is the paradoxical situation in Afghanistan where in some senses there is a deterioration of the situation with the stronger insurgency and a more determined insurgency over the last year or so," Hoffman told CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday.
"But there's also a continued progress and, in some cases, an acceleration of progress in other areas."
With files from The Associated Press
