The Independent
By Jerome Starkey, in Kabul

The pupils were lining up outside their classrooms for morning assembly when one girl suddenly collapsed unconscious. “She was only little,” said Gulcheena, a 13-year-old student of the school who fell ill herself moments later.

They were among 90 Afghan school girls rushed to hospital yesterday unconscious and vomiting, possibly victims of a gas poisoning attack on their school in Mahmud Raqi village.

“The teachers picked her up and carried her to the school office,” Gulcheena said. “We went into our class and the teacher was calling the roll call when suddenly she told us to go outside.”