KABUL, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The armed opposition groups in Afghanistan in a new tactic have obviously aimed their gun to education and have torched at least three schools in the insurgency-plagued country over the past week.
In the latest attack on school, the unidentified armed militants targeted a primary school in Mohmandara district of the eastern Nangarhar early Sunday and damaged parts of the school including burning textbooks.
According to Mohammad Asif Shinwari, spokesman for Nangarhar's Education Department, four masked gunmen entered the school early Sunday. After tying the guards of the school and locking them in the bathroom, the gunmen set fire of all documents including textbooks and a lab room.
In an identical incident, unknown armed men attacked and burned another school in the eastern Logar province a couple of days ago.
Similarly, the militants targeted Mohmandara district of the eastern Nangarhar province on April 10 and badly damaged an education center, the provincial government said in a statement.
Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks on schools yet, locals as well as officials do not rule out the involvement of Taliban militants.
Spokesman for Logar's provincial administration, Salim Saleh, claimed early this month that the Taliban militants had closed 30 schools only in the restive Charkh district following the murder of their commander during a clash with security forces.
Nearly 10 million Afghan children with around 40 percent of them girls attend in some 15,000 schools across the war-torn country, while around 3.5 million school-age children have no access to schools due to poverty, traditional barriers and security problems.