QUETTA: Four students, including a girl, were injured on Wednesday when armed men opened fire on a private school in Killi Shabo, a locality on the outskirts of the provincial capital.

Police said that armed men on a motorbike sprayed the building housing the Danish Kadah Public School with bullets at the time of recess when students were playing.

“Bullets fired with automatic weapon hit four students, who were buying food from the school canteen,” said police officials quoting the injured children.

All the four children, aged between six and nine years, received bullets in their legs.

After the incident, officials of the local administration, police officers and personnel of the Frontier Corps rushed to the school and moved the injured students to the Civil Hospital, Quetta.

“The condition of the four children is stable as bones in their legs have largely remained unaffected,” said a spokesman for the hospital, Dr Wasim Baig.

The injured children, who are students of grades three and four, said they heard the sound of firing and then saw that their legs were bleeding. The other students panicked and fled to their classroom to seek shelter.

According to Assistant Commissioner Sania Safi, the armed men fired bullets at the main entrance of the school. “The bullets after piercing through the gate hit the four children,” she said.

When contacted, the school administration said they had not received any threat and the institution was running smoothly.

The guard posted at the school’s main gate was sitting inside the compound at the time of the incident and could not see the assailants. The gate was closed.

Police officials said an investigation was under way. “It is too early to say anything about the firing. We are investigating the episode in the light of pieces of evidence available,” said SSP Nasibullah.

“There are reports that firing took place between two groups and some bullets hit the school gate. The situation will become clear after the investigation is complete.”

Provincial Home Minister Mir Saleem Ahmed Khosa condemned what he called an attack on the school and ordered a thorough investigation aimed at finding out the people behind the ghastly incident.

“The perpetrators of this attack on children will be brought to justice and the provincial government won’t let anyone disturb peace in Balochistan,” he said.

The local administration beefed up security near the educational institutions and asked the schools and colleges to take appropriate measures.

Pulished in Dawn, October 25th , 2018

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