KOHAT, April 10: The local Taliban have reportedly issued a ‘decree’, ‘banning’ secondary education for girls.

They have also been threatening the headmistress of a girls school with dire consequences if she didn’t close down her institution immediately.

In case the school was not closed down soon its building would be destroyed, said a message delivered to the headmistress, known widely as Mrs Jilani.

Meanwhile, unidentified miscreants blew up a shop owned by a barber in the Akhorwal area of Darra Adamkhel apparently because of his refusal to stop trimming or shaving beards. This was the ninth such attack in the region.

Earlier, the Taliban had been targeting only the oil tankers delivering supplies to foreign troops in Afghanistan.

The tribal administration has not taken any action against the Taliban who have been targeting CD shops, barber shops and girls schools.