About 1,500 girls stayed home from school today in the wake of an acid attack on eight fellow students.

None of the girls who attend the Mirwais Minna Girl's School in Kandahar attended today said principal Mahmood Qaderi.

Three of the eight girls were hospitalized with serious burns and others have been treated and released. U.S. military spokesmen said at least two of the girls still in hospital were blinded.

Two girls who were wearing full-length burkas were not harmed.

Officials say that two attackers used a toy gun to spray the acid and fled as soon as people came to the assistance of the girls.

Qaderi called the attackers the "enemy of Afghanistan" and the "enemy of education."

"They want our youth to be illiterate and not get an education," Qaderi said Thursday.

He said both students and teachers are worried about their safety.

"Until security improves... they will not go to the school," he said.

Bibi Athifa, one of the girls who suffered acid burns to her face, said she and her friends were walking to school when two armed gunmen on a motorbike stopped.

"One guy squirted acid from a bottle on us," she said. "Nobody warned us. Nobody threatened us. We don't have any enemies," she said.  

Correspondents say the attack is likely to have been carried out by those opposed to the education of women.

A spokesman for the Taliban denied involvement in the attack.

The former Taliban government - ousted from power in 2001 - banned girls from attending school.