KHAR: Suspected militants blew up a government girls’ primary school in the border area in Nawagai tehsil early on Monday, officials and local people said.

They said that the incident took place in Kamangra locality, 33 kilometers northwest of Khar.

They added that a group of unidentified miscreants entered the newly reconstructed building of the school and planted a number of explosive devices in it.

The local people said the explosives went off with a bang, razing the building to ground, but fortunately no one was hurt as the building was empty when the blast struck.

The outlawed Tahreek-i-Taliban Pakistan accepted the responsibility for the bombing.

TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told mediapersons on phone from an unspecified location that attacks on government installations, pro-government tribesmen and security forces would continue. “We carried out the bombing and we will continue attacks on educational institutions all over the tribal areas,” he added.

Local people and volunteers of village defence committee reached the spot soon after the explosion and cordoned off the area, but miscreants managed to escape the scene.

A local administration official said that the school building was completely destroyed in the explosion. He disclosed that the same school was also destroyed by militants in 2010 and was recently reconstructed.

The official said the administration launched an investigation to know why the watchman was absent when the militants entered the building. — Correspondent

Published in Dawn, September 09th, 2014