8 school teachers shot dead in targeted attacks in Pakistan

Police claimed eight school instructors were slain in two separate episodes of targeted shooting in Pakistan’s restive northwest tribal area, which borders Afghanistan.

According to authorities, in the first incident, unknown gunmen raided the staff room of Teri Mengal High School in the Upper Kurram tribal division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and shot dead seven teachers on exam duty.

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 the 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.