Pakistan: Two girls' schools allegedly bombed in north Waziristan district

Islamabad: In another extremist act, terrorists blew up two girls' schools in North Waziristan district located in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.

Deputy Commissioner Rehan Gul Khattak confirmed an explosion at the Government Girls Middle School Hafizabad, in Hassu Khel, and said that the building of the school was damaged but no loss of lives occurred, The News reported.

Meanwhile, District Police Officer Saleem Riaz said there were reports of two girls' schools to have been targeted and destroyed by explosives on Sunday night.

However, no casualties had been reported, he added. The official confirmed that the affected schools were located in Musakki and Hassu Khel villages of Mir Ali sub-division.

He said that cases against the terrorist acts were being registered under the Anti-Terrorism Act. This was the latest incident of violence against educational institutions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The incident comes after eight including five teachers had been killed in separate shootings in Upper Kurram Tehsil, earlier this month.

Local police said that in the first incident in Parachinar, which falls in Upper Kurram and is the capital of Kurram district, a teacher was killed whilst in a moving vehicle. Separately, unidentified gunmen shot seven people, including four teachers, in the staffroom of Government High School Tari Mangal.

All the educators were at the building for performing their exam duties, The News reported. The district administration said the three others killed were drivers who brought construction materials to the school.

School shootings are rare in Pakistan. Over 140 people, mostly students, were killed in a gun-and-bomb attack at an army school in Peshawar in December 2016.

Published on: Monday, May 22, 2023, 03:20 PM IST