KOHAT, June 16: Two women school teachers associated with a foreign-funded vocational training programme and two children of one of the teachers were gunned down at Khawaga Sarai near Ghalju, headquarters of the Orakzai tribal agency, in the early hours of Friday. An official of the political administration said the attack was believed to have been carried out by Taliban supporters opposed to the presence of non-governmental organisations in the tribal areas.

He said a watchman of the school and its owner had been taken into custody for interrogation.

A jirga of the Bangash tribe in the Kohat district –- from where the victims hailed –- gave three days to the Orakzai tribal agency to arrest the killers.

The political administration official told Dawn that the teachers were employed by the Barani Area Development Project funded by the Asian Development Bank to train local teachers at the Government Girls High School, Khawaga Serai, upper Orakzai sub-division.

He recalled that the lady teachers and the children had taken up residence at the school for the past one week.

He said initial investigation into the killing indicated that the attackers sneaked into the building late on Thursday night and opened fire on Salma Bibi, Sayada Bibi, her 10-year-old daughter and two-and-a-half-year-old son as they lay asleep.

He added that on Friday afternoon Salma Bibi was buried in Usterzai and Sayada Bibi and her children were buried in Kachai.

Both Usterzai and Kachai –- where the Bangash tribe enjoys considerable influence — fall in the Kohat district.

NWFP governor Ali Mohammad Jan Orakzai announced Rs300,000 for each of the two bereaved families.