Armed men burn down girls' school

Armed men burned down a girls' primary school in eastern Afghanistan on Monday night, an act that also destroyed hundreds of Qurans, a government official said on Tuesday.

Ministry of Education spokesman Asif Nang tells CNN that the Sangar girls' primary school in the Alengar district of Laghman province was destroyed.

About 850 copies of the holy Quran, the Muslim sacred book, stored in the school's library were torched as well.

There were no deaths or injuries, but the groundskeeper was tied up and then freed later by responders.

"This is not the first time," Nang said. "In the past armed men have burned schools in Logar and Helmand provinces, burning holy books of Quran in these schools as well."

Nangyalai Seddiqi, the district governor, told CNN that the school was built by an American provincial reconstruction team.

Taliban militants have attacked girls' schools in the past, but Seddiqui said that the fire was apparently set by "addicts and thieves" in a failed robbery attempt.

The provincial governor's spokesman, Gul Rahman Hamdard, confirmed the burning of the school and the Qurans. He told CNN an investigation is ongoing.