Militancy in Khyber Agency: Three children injured in girls school explosion

The attack took place in Jamrud, and left the school site in ruins.

JAMRUD: Three children were injured when militants blew up a government-run girls high school in Khyber agency’s Jamrud area on Sunday.

According to sources, militants placed a bomb at the back of a school in Malik Khan Wali Sikandar Kalay. As a result, four rooms and the outer portion of the school were completely destroyed. The watchman Baaz Muhammad, whose house is located near the school, told The Express Tribune he was guarding the front gate of the school when the massive explosion took place. “There was dust everywhere, when I ran towards my house I saw that the roof had collapsed, three of my children were injured,” he said.

Noor Khan Afridi, a resident of the area, said that the explosion took place around 1:30pm. When he ran outside on hearing the blast, he saw that the building was destroyed. Baaz Muhammad said that apart from the four rooms, there were two other rooms that were partially destroyed.

Eight-year-old student Ghazala told The Express Tribune that if the government re-constructs the school she would continue to study there. “Otherwise, I will have to take admission somewhere else,” she said, “because I want to continue my education”.

When contacted, local education officer Hashim Khan Afridi said that most of the schools in Khyber Agency which had been targeted were located in Bara, but that the number was steadily on the rise, reaching 61 in total with Sunday’s attack.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2011.