KHAR (Bajaur Agency), May 18: Tribesmen on Wednesday ransacked two school buildings in the Bajaur Agency on suspicion that they were being run by non-governmental organizations. Witnesses said that hundreds of armed men stormed into the buildings of the schools for boys and girls in the Zagai village of the Mamond Tehsil and destroyed record and furniture.

The community schools came under attack two days before a deadline set by the tribesmen that houses of two suspects would be demolished on the charge of providing shelter to foreign militants.

Qari Gul Saeed, who had given land for one of the schools, told journalists that the building had been vacated before the attack and students remained unhurt.

Sources said that certain elements, particularly religious circles, had been disseminating information against community schools, saying that NGOs were financing the institutions to promote western culture in the tribal community.

Meanwhile, owners of many such schools complained that they had received threats to close down these institutions.

Unidentified persons told the owner of a community school in the Babara Cheharmang area near the Afghan border to wind up the institution before May 20 otherwise the building would be blown up.

Officials said the political administration had convened a jirga of elders and sought their support to cope with the situation.