KHAAR, Nov 5: At least 60 of the victims of the Bajaur seminary bombing were below 18 years of age, the youngest a nine-year-old child.

Parents of the victims and local people said the majority of the seminary students belonged to the Cheenagai village and adjoining localities and they were 10 to 17 years old. Only six of the students were Afghans, while some belonged to Swabi, Swat and Charsadda.

The youngest victim, Noor Hamad, son of Hazrat Mohammad, of Inam Khoro Cheenagai village, was nine years old, while three others of the same village and one from the Mamond area were 10 years of age – Saifullah Khan, son of Azizur Rehman; Shoaib Khan, son of Nisar Khan; Asadullah, son of Mohibullah; and Sadaqat Khan, son of Shah Ahmad Khan.

One student, Khalilullah, son of Khan Mohammad, was 11-year-old, while a majority of the other victims were 12 to 15 years of age and all of them belonged to villages one to 19 kilometres from the Ziaul Uloom Taleemul Quran Madressah.

The madressah administrator Maulvi Liaquatullah, 38, who was killed in the attack, was a leader of the banned Tehrik Nefaz Shariat-i-Muhammadi and was considered as a local mujahideen commander. He hailed from the Inam Khoro Cheenagai village.

The victims’ parents told Dawn in the Cheenagai village near Damadola that nine of them were 18, four were 19 and three 20 years of age.