Three Afghani girls, aged between 16 and 18, are recovering after Islamists threw acid into their faces because they were attending school.

Two of the girls remain in critical condition at Harat’s Noor hospital according to an official who spoke with CNN.

Two men approached the girls on motorcycles while they were walking to school.  They told the girls as they threw the acid that it was their punishment for going to school.  The attackers are still at large and a provincial police chief told reporters they were working hard to find them.

The girls attended one of the biggest girl’s schools in the provincial capital.

Islamic terror groups like the Taliban are against women receiving education.  The United Nations reported that only 12 percent of Afghani women are literate.

In the past, militants have reported being paid large sums of money by the Taliban for carrying out acid attacks on young girls.  In a 2008 attack, the captured attackers told police they were paid $1,265 by Taliban officials in Pakistan for crossing into Afghanistan to make the attack.

The Taliban forbid women from gaining any education during their rule of Afghanistan.