Abdur Rashed Bangash
SADDA: At least eight people, including five teachers, were killed in separate incidents of firing in the Parachinar area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Kurram district on Thursday, sources said.
According to sources, the firing incidents took place at two separate locations; the first one near the Shalozan area on the road, and the second one at Teri Mengal School, which was approximately six kilometres away from the first incident.
One teacher was killed in the first incident and seven in the school shooting. sources added, that those killed at the school included four teachers and three drivers.
The bodies of the school shooting victims were taken to the district headquarters hospital, Parachinar.
Later, DPO Imran told while speaking to the media that one person, a teacher, was killed in the first incident and seven in the school shooting. He added that those killed at the school included four teachers and three drivers.
He said, that measures were being taken and negotiations were being carried out with tribal leaders to bring the situation back to normalcy after the attacks.
He said the Kohat division deputy inspector general of police and commissioner had reached Parachinar after the incidents. He added that security had been beefed up and routes blocked in the areas.
The official said a probe into the incidents was underway.
Earlier, Zahid Hussain, a representative of the Teacher Union, said that they had decided to keep schools in the area closed until the culprits were caught. Staging a protest outside the Parachinar Press Club, he urged teachers across KP to close schools from tomorrow.
In another incident in Parachinar, which falls in Upper Kurram and is the capital of Kurram district, a man was killed whilst in a moving vehicle — taking the total number of educators killed in a day to eight.
The man, named Mohammad Sharif, who was killed inside the car, said the police. He was shot while he was travelling on Shalozan Road.
The police are searching for the killers, but have not been able to track them down so far.
School shootings are rare in Pakistan. Over 140 people, mostly students, were killed in a gun-and-bomb attack at an army school in Peshawar in December 2016.
Matric Board examinations have been deferred for an indefinite period in Parachinar for now, announced the chairperson of Kohat’s education board, Samina Altaf. “The students inside the examination centre remained safe,” she said.
The chairperson further informed that board examinations in the rest of Kurram district and areas would be held as per schedule.
