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LANDI KOTAL: Suspected militants blew up an under-construction government school in the remote locality of Akkakhel in Tirah valley on Wednesday night, officials said, adding three labourers were injured in the incident.
They said an unknown number of militants entered the school building at around midnight and planted explosives in almost all parts of the building being rebuilt by the Frontier Corps.
The injured — Shakir Akkakhel, Lalmeen Kamar Khel and Ali Sher Malakdin Khel — were shifted to a hospital in Peshawar. This is second time that a school building in Gul Miran Kalay of Dars Jumaat area in Akkakhel has been targeted.
Dars Jumaat had remained a stronghold and an important base of the banned Lashkar-i-Islam till 2012 after which they first fled to Kukikhel in Tirah and later took refuge in the Naziyan district of Nangrahar province of Afghanistan when the military operation, Khyber One, was launched in the region.
Officials say three workers were injured in incident and believe the same suspects had also attacked security personnel a few hours ago
Locals, however, questioned the presence of suspected militants in Dars Jumaat and surrounding localities as the area has been under complete control of security forces since 2012. They have also established a number of checkposts on all entry points.
Meanwhile, officials of the Khyber Agency education department said no such school existed in the region. “There is no government school in the Akkakhel area of Tirah,” they said, adding local residents have recently demanded that a school be set up in their area.
Security officials in Bara claimed that the suspected militants, who had planted explosives in the Akkakhel school, had also attacked a Levies patrol party in the nearby area of Sarzai early in the evening.
The firing incident left one Levies man injured. He was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Officials said a local suspect identified as Asif Sipah, who was affiliated with a banned militant outfit, along with seven to eight accomplices was behind both the incidents.
Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2018
