Six schoolteachers were killed in a shooting at a school in the Kurram district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) shortly after another teacher was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in the upper Kurram area, officials and medics said on Thrusday.
Police sources said that Muhammad Sharif was killed after unknown persons opened fire on a moving vehicle on Solozan Road. After the attack, armed men entered the Teri Mangal High School and killed six schoolteachers and a staff member.
The deceased teachers were identified as Mir Hussain, Jawad Hussain, Naveed Hussain, Jawad Ali, Muhammad Ali and Ali Hussain, all of whom belonging to the Turi Bangash tribe. The teachers were performing examination duties at that time.
The teachers were inside the staffroom when unknown assailants opened fire on them. “The students inside the examination centre remained safe,” Kohat’s Education Board Chairperson Samina Altaf said.
“Board examinations have been deferred for an indefinite period in Parachinar for now,” Altaf said, adding that the examinations in the rest of Kurram district and areas would be held as per schedule.
Emergency was declared at the hospitals across the district after the killing. Authorities closed schools in Parachinar as well as the transportation routes because of security concerns, local administration officials said.
Contradictory accounts were given about the motive for the killings. A statement from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister’s office said it involved a property dispute, but the regional commissioner said sectarian antagonism appeared to be the cause.
