PESHAWAR/KHAR, Dec 6: Four government schools and an oil tanker carrying fuel for Nato forces in Afghanistan were blown up in separate incidents in Peshawar and Bajaur Agency.

The oil tanker bearing registration number TLL-684-Lasbella was blown up at Ring Road in the limits of Peshtakhara police station on Monday morning, however, the driver and cleaner remained unhurt.

An official of Bomb Disposal Unit told journalists that the tanker had been blown up with magnet bomb, which weighed about one and a half kilogram. He said that it was a time bomb.

Rehmat Wali, an eyewitness, said that he was coming to his workplace when he heard a loud bang and flames started billowing up from the vehicle. He said that there was no driver in the tanker at the time of blast.

The staff of Rescue 1122, he said, reached the spot after some time but the tanker was already gutted. He said that shopkeepers in the area tried to control the fire.

The blast also led to suspension of traffic on Ring Road for some time. A police official said that traffic had been diverted to different link roads. The tanker driver, Abdul Karim, and his brother Bazaar Wali, who works as cleaner of the vehicle, of Landi Kotal were arrested for interrogation.

They told police that they had travelled from Attok and disembarked from the vehicle at Ring Road to take a rest when the incident occurred.

The official said that a case against unidentified terrorists had been registered at Peshatakhara police station. The driver and cleaner were under interrogation, he said.

In another incident, suspected militants blew up a government-run primary school for girls in Jogian locality near Tarnab Farm on G.T. Road Peshawar on Monday night.

A police official said that the blast destroyed the whole building. “We were inside police station when heard a huge blast,” he said and added that police reached the spot and started hunt for suspected people in the surrounding areas. It is to be mentioned here that at least nine schools have so far been blown up in Peshawar during the past few months.

In Bajaur Agency, suspected militants blew up three government schools in Utmankhel area near Khar, the administrative headquarters of the agency, on Sunday night. The blasts caused significant damage to the buildings.

More than 80 government-run schools and other education institutions, both for boys and girls, have been destroyed in the region so far.