Afghan schoolgirls sprayed with acid
Three Afghan schoolgirls suffered serious burns when attackers sprayed acid in their faces as they walked to school.
By Ben Farmer in Kabul
Two men riding a motorcycle attacked a group of 15 girls with an acid-filled water pistol in the southern city of Kandahar, leaving six needing hospital treatment, three of them for serious injuries.
A government official said the attackers ripped off the girls' headscarves before the attack and another report said those wearing the full-length burqa to cover themselves had been left untouched.
It is not known who carried out the attack but girls were banned from going to school under the Taliban regime between 1996 and 2001.
One 16-year-old victim, who gave her name as Atifa, said: "We were on the way to school when two men on motorbikes stopped next to us.
"One of them threw acid on my sister's face. I tried to help her and then they threw acid on me too.
"We were shouting and people came to see what was going on, then the two men escaped."
A government statement condemned the attack as "un-Islamic", adding the attackers "cannot prevent six million children going to school."
Hours later, six people were killed and 42 wounded when a fuel tanker carryi exploded outside the office of the provincial council in the city.
Wali Karzai, brother of President Hamid Karzai and head of the council, was in the building but was unharmed. Officials said the dead included an intelligence employee, two intelligence guards and three passers-by.
Taliban insurgents later claimed responsibility for the bombing.