Ten Taliban militants have been arrested in connection with an acid attack against Afghan girls walking to school earlier this month, a provincial governor said Tuesday.

Kandahar Gov. Rahmatullah Raufi said several of the arrested militants have confessed to taking part in the acid attack, the Associated Press reported. He said high-ranking Taliban fighters paid the militants $2,000 to carry out the attack.

Some girls suffered serious face burns when two men riding motorcycles squirted them with acid from water bottles. They had been walking to school in Kandahar City.

One teenager couldn't open her eyes days after being splattered with acid.

The Nov. 12 attack sparked worldwide condemnation. None of the school's 1,500 students or teachers attended classes in the days following the attack.

Girls were banned from schools under the Taliban's hardline Islamist regime, which ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

A Taliban spokesman had denied that Taliban militants were involved in the attack.

With files from the Associated Press