September 30, 2007	Sunday	Ramazan 17, 1428

GHALANAI, Sept 29: A woman schoolteacher was gunned down by unidentified assailants and a minor boy was wounded in an explosion here on Saturday.

In another incident, security personnel defused an explosive device in the Lakaro tehsil.

The security situation has deteriorated fast in the Mohmand Agency as the tribal elders and political administration officials continue to hold negotiations in an effort to restore peace to the tribal agency.

Eyewitnesses and sources said that a teacher of the girls community school in Atokhel area of the Haleemzai tehsil was shot dead by unidentified motorcyclists when she was going home. The teacher was identified as Khatoon Begum.

They said the three assailants, who had covered their faces, fled the scene after shooting the teacher. He body was shifted to the Agency Headquarters Hospital in Ghalanai which was later dispatched to the Uthmanzai area after postmortem.

Residents said that about 10 schools for girls in the Haleemzai area were closed after the killing of the teacher.

In another incident, 10-year-old Hijran, son of Khadi Gul, was wounded when a rocket exploded near him in the Barokhel area of the tehsil. He was taken to the hospital.

Witnesses said the rocket was fired accidentally by a man who was moving about in the area with a group of gunmen.

Meanwhile, security forces defused a bomb planted on the road in the Mamad Gat area, officials said.

The locals spotted the bomb and informed the authorities. Soon a bomb disposal squad was dispatched to the area from the agency headquarters, which uncovered the device and defused it. The bomb was planted in a pressure cooker, officials said.

It must be noted that the body of a beheaded woman was found in the Nahaqai area of the agency on Friday.

The militants have warned women teachers in Mohmand Agency of dire consequences if they did not observe purdah. They have been advised to quit their jobs if they did not want to listen to the militants’ demands.