Afghan Gunmen Pour Acid on Teen Sisters, Beat Parents Over Proposal Rejection
A brutal attack on an Afghan family left three sisters maimed and their parents wounded after local thugs were angered over the eldest sister rebuffing a wedding proposal from an aging warlord.
Approximately six gunman carried out an assault Tuesday night around midnight to disfigure the girls in the hope they would not be able to find another suitor.
Officials said a warlord local, who the family was not fond of, pursued the oldest daughter. However, with her family’s support, Mumtaz turned him down.
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Several weeks’ later, armed men broke into their home in the Bulk Awal area of the city of Kunduz - the largest city in the northern region.
One of the attackers beat up the girl's parents with a club. Mumtaz, and her 13-year-old and 14-year-old sisters, were held captive and told not to make any noise while their parents were beaten.
The men poured acid on the mother's hands before spraying all three girls with the corrosive acid.
Abdul Shokor Rahimi, head of the Kunduz regional hospital, said all five are now receiving medical treatment.
“The father and oldest daughter are in critical condition as they have been attacked all over the body. Their mother and two daughters … have some wounds only in hands and faces,” said Rahimi.
Ghulam Mohammad Farhad, the senior police detective for Kunduz, said: “We have started an investigation and those who have attacked them will be prosecuted.”
“They wanted to prevent the wedding. They threw acid into the girl's face so that no one else would marry her. The 18-year-old was badly hurt. They threw acid on her face, on her hands, her body and her feet,” said Nadira Geya, the provincial head of women's affairs.
A spokesperson for the Afghan Ministry of Interior said it was treating the attack with the utmost seriousness and that they have “arrested one person so far and we have identified two other suspects.”
If convicted, they will face the highest possible sentence, according to the spokesperson.
