Asia-Pacific

Militants blow up schools in Pakistan's tribal area

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-04-02 15:48

ISLAMABAD - Militants blew up another government high school in Pakistan's restive Mohmand tribal area and set on fire a middle school in Orakzai agency on Friday, official sources said.

Local officials told Xinhua that a high school was blown up by unidentified militants at Kogpand area in subdivision Safi of Mohmand early Friday. They said 21 classrooms were completely damaged and another 10 were partially destroyed.

Militants placed explosive materials at different parts of the building of the school that leveled the building to ground but no casualty has been reported.

Reports said that the number of schools so far destroyed by militants in the Mohmand agency reached 37.

Meanwhile, militants torched a state-run middle school in Bezot area of the nearby Orakzai area where a military operation is continued against Taliban militants.

Taliban militants, who oppose education, have destroyed hundreds of schools, mostly girls' school, in northwest Pakistan in the past two years.

After the successful military operations in Swat, Buner, Dir and South Waziristan, Pakistan last week launched another military campaign to flush out Taliban from the Orakzai tribal region, killing over 200 militants so far.