Militants have attacked hundreds of educational institutions in the turbulent northwestern region. — Photo by AFP/File

PESHAWAR: Gunmen on motorbikes wounded 15 girls when they opened fire with pistols and lobbed grenades at a college party in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, police said.

Some of the victims were in a critical condition after the attack on the state-run girls-only institution in the town of Mardan, 40 kilometres northeast of Peshawar.

All the girls were aged 18 to 20, police said.

“Gunmen hurled two grenades and then opened fire with pistols. Fifteen girl students have been injured, some of them were in critical condition,” Khalid Nasim, a senior police officer in the town, told AFP.

An intelligence official in Peshawar said the attackers fled the scene afterwards.

There was no claim for the attack, but militants opposed to co-education and advocating extremist interpretations of religion have destroyed hundreds of schools, mostly for girls, in northwest Pakistan in recent years.

Opinion

Editorial

Digital growth
Updated 25 Apr, 2024

Digital growth

Democratising digital development will catalyse a rapid, if not immediate, improvement in human development indicators for the underserved segments of the Pakistani citizenry.
Nikah rights
25 Apr, 2024

Nikah rights

THE Supreme Court recently delivered a judgement championing the rights of women within a marriage. The ruling...
Campus crackdowns
25 Apr, 2024

Campus crackdowns

WHILE most Western governments have either been gladly facilitating Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, or meekly...
Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...