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Militants blow up school in NW Pakistan

25 December 2011 00:01 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Militants have blown up a state-run boys’ school in northwestern Pakistan, where government troops have been battling militants for several years, APA reports quoting Press TV.

The assailants detonated explosives to destroy the school building in the Landi Kotal district of the border town Torkham, which is located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, about 193 kilometers (120 miles) west of the capital Islamabad, on Saturday.

There were no reports of casualties since the school was empty at the time of the bombing, local officials said.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

However, Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants are the main suspects in the incident.

TTP militants have banned female education in northwestern Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas, depriving thousands of girls of their right to education. The number of girls enrolled in school has dropped dramatically in the region due to the threats and attacks.

Over the past several years, TTP militants have destroyed hundreds of schools, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, which was previously known as North-West Frontier Province.

The Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan has warned Pakistani parents in the region against sending their daughters to school, describing education as ’unnecessary’ or ’harmful’ for girls.

Thousands of people have been killed in acts of violence across Pakistan since 2007.