Eight school teachers shot dead in targeted attacks in Pakistan's restive northwest

Representational picture

Eight school teachers were killed on Thursday in two separate incidents of targeted shooting in Pakistan's restive northwest tribal district, bordering Afghanistan, police said.

In the first incident, some unknown gunmen stormed the staff room of Teri Mengal High School in the Upper Kurram tribal district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and shot dead seven teachers on exam duty, according to police.

The attackers fled after the attack. In a separate incident, a school teacher was killed when his car was ambushed by unknown gunmen on Shalozan Road in Parachinar headquarters of the same district.

No group or individual claimed responsibility for the attacks.

However, the incidents come just two days after Pakistani security forces killed Abdul Jabar Shah, a notorious Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander and two others and made several key arrests in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

After the brutal firing incident, an emergency has been declared in all the health facilities of the district.

The Kohat Board exam for 9th and 10th grades has also been postponed after the killings.

The police have launched a massive hunt to arrest the killers.

President Arif Alvi condemned the incident and expressed hope that the culprits would soon be arrested and punished according to law.

Separately, at least six soldiers were killed and three terrorists eliminated during a clash that occurred between security forces and the terrorists in northwest Pakistan on Thursday.

The confrontation between the army and the terrorists occurred in the Dirdoni area of the North Waziristan tribal district, the army's media wing ISPR said.

Two terrorists were also injured in the retaliatory fire.

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The operation against terrorists would continue till the complete elimination of the terrorists, the ISPR said.

The outlawed TTP has increased the attacks in recent months and has apparently become stronger since the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban.

The militant group, set up as an umbrella group of several militant outfits in 2007, called off a ceasefire with the federal government and ordered its militants to stage terrorist attacks country-wide.

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