A girls’ school in district Bannu’s Meryan Tehsil was set on fire on Friday night in what is being perceived as a terrorist attack amid an increase in militancy in the tribal region.
The terrorists targeted the Government Girls Higher Secondary School in Kotka Mumbati Barakzai, inflicting significant damage on the building. The school’s science lab was turned to ashes.
The miscreants stole solar panels and other items and vandalised the school’s boundary wall as well. They also wrote threatening messages near the main gate, warning of additional attacks if the school tried to resume classes.
Police officials collected evidence from the site, kicking off an investigation into the terror act, District Police Officer Iftikhar Khan told Geo News.
Schools in the district are currently closed due to the winter break. Meanwhile, the incident marks the first instance of a school being set on fire in Bannu following the upswing in militant attacks which came after the end of the ceasefire with the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan last year.
However, this is not the first time this year that a girls’ school has been targeted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In May 2023, two girls’ schools were blown up by terrorists in the North Waziristan district.
The attack came after Islamabad initiated a new offensive against terrorists in response to a surge in attacks, including a destructive mosque bombing that claimed over 100 lives in February this year.
Historically, the TTP extremists have prohibited female education in areas that came under their control in the province.
But the country has, regardless, seen a return of terrorism in the form of targeted attacks by terrorists, particularly since late 2022. This year, however, the terror attacks witnessed a surge in militancy, particularly suicide attacks that reached the highest level since 2014.
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