PESHAWAR, Feb 19: Militants blew up a private school here on Saturday while three policemen received injuries when armed men attacked them on late Friday night.

An official of Bala Mani police station told Dawn that the explosive, planted near the school -- Rauza-tul-Atfaal -- on Charkhana Road, exploded at about 2am. “The blast damaged a portion of the school but no loss of life was reported,” he added.

An official of Bomb Disposal Unit said that about one kilogram explosive was used in the blast. The residents of the area said that they heard the huge blast and came out of their houses to know as to what had happened. The people said that it was the third incident of its kind in the same locality. The Rauza-tul-Atfaal school had already been attacked last year and one of its rooms had been blown up last year. A teenager had been killed and five others including a minor girl student received injuries on the same road when a minibus of Sir Syed Islamia Model School was targeted on Dec 13 last year.

In the limits of Gulberg police station, unidentified persons attacked a police van at midnight and injured three policemen. The injured policemen included Sub-inspector Nazar Ali Khan, his driver Zar Shad Khan and another official.

Police said that they were shifted to Lady Reading Hospital. Police claimed to have arrested some of the attackers but avoided disclosing their identity.

ENCOUNTER: Three persons including an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) were killed in an encounter at Jaroba village of Pabbi early on Saturday morning, police said. An official of Pabbi police station said that police raided a house in the area on a tip-off about presence of some wanted criminals there. He said that the criminals offered resistance which resulted into killing of ASI Ali Khan.

Three policemen identified as Zafar Ali, Sajjad Ali and Riaz sustained bullet injuries in the encounter. He said that two proclaimed offenders, Jahangir and Zarshed, were killed in the encounter while their accomplice Shamsul Qamar, wanted in eight murder cases, managed to flee.—Ali Hazrat Bacha