Kabul: Suspected terrorists have poisoned three girls in Eastern Afghanistan for going to school, President Hamid Karzai said today (May 2, 2004).

Karzai said three girls in Khost province were in critical condition after being poisoned by "terrorist elements".

"I will not call anyone an Afghan or a Muslim who poisons an eight-year-old child because she is school-going,'' Karzai said in a statement. "I will not even call them human beings...they are beasts.''

He gave no details of the incident, and officials in Karzai's office and in Khost were not immediately available for comment.

Suspected Islamic militants who oppose female education often target schools in arson attacks, but direct attacks on students are rare.