Militants blow up two girls schools in N Waziristan

PESHAWAR: Militants detonated explosives inside two empty girls´ schools in northwestern Pakistan overnight, destroying nine classrooms but causing no casualties, officials said Monday.Girls’ education has long been contentious for some regional militants, including the Pakistan Taliban, notorious for shooting then-schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai as she campaigned for schooling in 2012.

The twin attacks on the girls´ schools took place on Sunday night in the Hassu Khel and Gul Mosaki areas of North Waziristan, both around 20 miles from the border with Afghanistan. “Militants planted improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the two government middle schools for girls, which exploded late in the night,” said senior local administration official Rehan Gul Khattak. He said six classrooms in Hassu Khel and a further three in Gul Mosaki were destroyed. “It was surely done by militants but we don´t know yet which group was involved,” Khattak said. District police officer Salim Riaz confirmed the incident and said “a full-scale investigation” had been launched.