Planted IED: Aspiring cricketer dies in school blast

JAMRUD:

An aspiring cricketer and school watchman was killed in a blast at a private girls middle school in Bakarabad area of Jamrud tehsil on Monday.

Akhtar Munir, the nephew of the school’s owner, was sleeping in one of the building’s rooms when the bomb planted by unidentified militants went off at around 12:10am and reduced the entire structure to debris.

The owner, Maweez Khan, reported the incident to the police saying he heard a huge blast and found the school in ruins when he reached the site.

A Khasadar official, Tehsenullah said Munir’s body was pulled out of the debris by locals. “He was killed on the spot due to the impact of the blast,” he added.

Munir was a well-known cricketer of the area and one of the key batsmen of Al Haj Cricket Club. He played first-class cricket and recently went on a tour to Bangladesh. He was also scheduled to play a match in the ongoing Assistant Political Agent Cricket Tournament at Jamrud Sports Ground at 11am on Monday.

The team’s skipper Taimur said Munir was a humble and soft spoken person. “His favourite player was Saeed Anwar and he always wanted to play for the national team,” added Taimur.

This was the second time the school was targeted. Earlier, two rooms were destroyed in a blast and the political administration claimed the two suspects were arrested.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2013.