LANDI KOTAL/ SWABI, Aug 15: Four Nato oil tankers, a container and a taxicab were completely gutted when a powerful bomb blast caused a huge fire in one of the vehicles near Landi Kotal Bazaar in Khyber Agency on Monday evening. Sources said that the drivers of tankers and container parked their vehicles outside Landi Kotal Bazaar and were busy in breaking fast when an explosive device fitted in one of the oil tankers exploded. The explosion caused fire, which also engulfed another oil tanker and a container, loaded with ghee canisters.

Zahid Shah, an eyewitness, told Dawn that the fire was so huge that it immediately engulfed the five vehicles. He said that some other vehicles parked nearby were removed from the scene by their drivers.

The incident is second of its kind in just two days as a trailer loaded with two armoured personnel carriers vehicles were destroyed in a similar fashion at Torkham border on the night between Saturday and Sunday.

In Mandi Kas area of Bara, scores of saboteurs demolished a primary school for girls. Local residents said that saboteurs used hammers, spades and other tools to raze the building. They also took along windows, doors and furniture of the school after demolishing it completely.

Militants also fired rockets at Niazi Market from Sipah area but the attack could not caused any damage to the market.

A minor boy sustained injuries inside his house when he was hit by a bullet, fired by security forces in Muslim Dhand locality of Shalobar in Bara on Monday, sources said. The boy was shifted to Hayatabad Medical Complex in critical condition, they added.

In Swabi, building of a degree college for girls and a bus were partially damaged when a bomb went off near the main entrance of the institution on Monday.

The bomb exploded at 5am outside the entrance of Karnal Sher Khan Shaheed Degree College for Girls, destroying its main gate and a college bus, sources said. The boundary wall and classrooms of the college also developed cracks, they added. However, no casualty was reported.

The college is located adjacent to the mausoleum of Captain Karnal Sher Khan. District Police Officer Mohammad Ijaz Khan visited the college after the blast.

Officials said that it was the first incident of its kind in the newly established Razaar tehsil of the district. In the past, no educational institution of the level of a degree college was targeted in the district by militants, they added.

They said two watchmen Mohammad Shahzad Khan and Rashid Khan were present at the college at the time of explosion.

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