GILGIT, Jan 15: Two girl schools and a worship place were blown up in Chilas district in the wee hours of Saturday. The blasts, however, did not cause any damage to human life as there was no one at these places at the time of the explosions, senior police officials said on Saturday.

“Five simultaneous blasts occurred at around 1.35am damaged four classrooms of girls high school, Chilas and one class room of a primary school while an another blast occurred outside a worship place, but fortunately the explosions did not cause any loss of human life” said Deputy Superintended of Police Mohammad Riaz while talking to Dawn on phone from Chilas.

The police official said that it was locally made explosive devices attached with detonators, adding, each device weighed 1.5kg.

DSP Mohammad Riaz said the police were trying to establish as to who was behind the blasts targeting the girl schools, adding, woman education faced no threat in the region. He said there was no arrest so far, adding, a list of suspects was being prepared and raids were being conducted to arrest the perpetrators.

Meanwhile, people from all walks of life condemned the attacks terming these a bid to sabotage the peaceful environment of the area. The residents said the blasts frightened them as they did not know what had happened in the middle of the night.

Labour Party of Gilgit-Baltistan strongly condemned the attack and termed it an act carried out by 'imperialist section'. The party accused the GB government of failing to provide security to the people.

The party appealed to the people to remain united and foil the attempts aimed at disturbing the peaceful environment of the region. SNOW, COLD WAVE:

The Gilgit-Baltistan received the second snowfall of the season, dipping temperatures and paralysing normal life. Roads in Skardu, Astor, Yasin, Gupis, Phandar were blocked as snowfall continued for second day on Saturday.

The snow also suspended traffic at main Karakuram Highway as buses and other vehicles were stuck up at Shinkiari and Kohistan points stranding passengers. Markets in main cities of the area were deserted due to severe cold which the local met office predicted to continue for next couple of days.

The inclement weather conditions also disturbed the flight schedule of the Pakistan International Airlines.