Schoolgirls Poisoned

Twenty Iranian schoolgirls were hospitalised on Tuesday after the latest in a mysterious wave of poisoning attacks that have sickened thousands of pupils, state media reported.

More than 5,000 Iranian schoolchildren have been affected by a spate of poisonings that has targeted mainly female pupils since late November, according to a lawmaker investigating the cases.

"Authorities should seriously pursue the issue of students' poisoning," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told state media.

Worried parents protested in Iran's capital Tehran and other cities on Saturday over a wave of suspected poison attacks that have affected schoolgirls in dozens of schools, according to Iranian news agencies and social media videos.

Hundreds of Iranian girls in different schools have suffered "mild poison" attacks over recent months, the health minister said, with some politicians suggesting they could have been targeted by religious groups opposed to girls' education.

An Iranian deputy minister on Sunday said "some people" were poisoning schoolgirls in the holy city of Qom with the aim of shutting down education for girls, state media reported.

A new video has emerged in a case of death by suicide by a 17-year-old schoolgirl in Tamil Nadu in which she is heard saying she "took poison" fearing her marks would fall.

A 17-year-old school girl in Tamil Nadu died on Wednesday, days after she drank poison alleging abuse by her hostel warden and an attempt to convert her family to Christianity.

A teenage girl student of a BMC-run Urdu medium school died of suspected poisoning from a medicine dose while at least 30 others were taken ill, officials said here on Friday.

The mystery death of a schoolgirl has had the small town of Theerthahalli in Karnataka's Shivamogga district in an uproar. The girl, who - according to her parents - was abducted, drugged or poisoned and then raped, died in a hospital in Manipal on October 29.

Traditional hunters armed with homemade guns, poisoned spears and amulets have gathered in their hundreds, eager to use their skills and what they believe to be supernatural powers to help find nearly 300 schoolgirls abducted by Islamic extremists.

Afghanistan's education minister has threatened to punish schoolgirls who claim to suffer from alleged "poisonings" that many officials believe are actually temporary psychological illnesses.

As many as 74 schoolgirls in Afghanistan's far north fell sick after smelling gas and were being examined for possible poisoning, local officials said on Sunday.

Over 120 schoolgirls in Afghanistan fell sick following a suspected poison attack by the Taliban, a media report said.Most of the girls were treated and discharged, but 30 of them were still under treatment, an official told the BBC.

About 150 Afghan schoolgirls were poisoned on Tuesday after drinking contaminated water at a high school in the country's north, officials said, blaming it on conservative radicals opposed to female education. Since the 2001 toppling of the Taliban, which banned education for women and girls, females have returned to schools, especially in Kabul.

Twenty Iranian schoolgirls were hospitalised on Tuesday after the latest in a mysterious wave of poisoning attacks that have sickened thousands of pupils, state media reported.

More than 5,000 Iranian schoolchildren have been affected by a spate of poisonings that has targeted mainly female pupils since late November, according to a lawmaker investigating the cases.

"Authorities should seriously pursue the issue of students' poisoning," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told state media.

Worried parents protested in Iran's capital Tehran and other cities on Saturday over a wave of suspected poison attacks that have affected schoolgirls in dozens of schools, according to Iranian news agencies and social media videos.

Hundreds of Iranian girls in different schools have suffered "mild poison" attacks over recent months, the health minister said, with some politicians suggesting they could have been targeted by religious groups opposed to girls' education.

An Iranian deputy minister on Sunday said "some people" were poisoning schoolgirls in the holy city of Qom with the aim of shutting down education for girls, state media reported.

A new video has emerged in a case of death by suicide by a 17-year-old schoolgirl in Tamil Nadu in which she is heard saying she "took poison" fearing her marks would fall.

A 17-year-old school girl in Tamil Nadu died on Wednesday, days after she drank poison alleging abuse by her hostel warden and an attempt to convert her family to Christianity.

A teenage girl student of a BMC-run Urdu medium school died of suspected poisoning from a medicine dose while at least 30 others were taken ill, officials said here on Friday.

The mystery death of a schoolgirl has had the small town of Theerthahalli in Karnataka's Shivamogga district in an uproar. The girl, who - according to her parents - was abducted, drugged or poisoned and then raped, died in a hospital in Manipal on October 29.

Traditional hunters armed with homemade guns, poisoned spears and amulets have gathered in their hundreds, eager to use their skills and what they believe to be supernatural powers to help find nearly 300 schoolgirls abducted by Islamic extremists.

Afghanistan's education minister has threatened to punish schoolgirls who claim to suffer from alleged "poisonings" that many officials believe are actually temporary psychological illnesses.

As many as 74 schoolgirls in Afghanistan's far north fell sick after smelling gas and were being examined for possible poisoning, local officials said on Sunday.

Over 120 schoolgirls in Afghanistan fell sick following a suspected poison attack by the Taliban, a media report said.Most of the girls were treated and discharged, but 30 of them were still under treatment, an official told the BBC.

About 150 Afghan schoolgirls were poisoned on Tuesday after drinking contaminated water at a high school in the country's north, officials said, blaming it on conservative radicals opposed to female education. Since the 2001 toppling of the Taliban, which banned education for women and girls, females have returned to schools, especially in Kabul.