Targeting education: Boys school blown up in Nowshera

PESHAWAR: Unidentified suspected militants blew up a government high school for boys in Adamzai on the outskirts of Akora Khattak on Wednesday. A homemade bomb with five kilogrammes of explosives was planted in a canister, which went off around 3:00am. “The boundary wall of the school was destroyed, while a classroom nearby was partially damaged,” said an Akora Khattak police official, Hazrat Ali. Khan Muhammad, the school’s watchman, was absent from duty when the incident occurred and his name has been mentioned in the FIR. EDO Education Hasanat Gul said militants are creating fear and discouraging the youth from getting an education. Classes are still being held and the damaged wall will soon be reconstructed, Gul said. So far, 24 schools have been destroyed in the Nowshera district, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2012.