Islamabad, January 28: Taliban militants have blown up two girls’ schools and a college in southwest of Pakistan, stepping up anti-educational attacks in the region.
A primary school was dynamited in Zahair Shah Koralla area of Charsda district before dawn on Thursday, a Media correspondent reported.
In another incident of violence around noon, a two-floor building of a semi-government school and a college were also destroyed in Miran Shah area of south Waziristan tribal belt, the report added.
Local tribal police and intelligence officials have confirmed the blasts, saying no casualties have been reported.
Taliban militants who are opposed to co-educational system, have destroyed hundreds of schools, mostly for girls, in the northwest of the country in recent years as they have launched a fierce militancy to enforce their Sharia laws.
The militants have banned female education in the northwest Pakistan valley of Swat, depriving more than 40,000 girls of schooling. The number of girls enrolled in school has dropped dramatically in the region due to the violence.
The militants have destroyed more than 200 schools in the Swat valley alone during a two-year campaign by Tehrik-e Taliban’s Swat chief Maulana Fazlullah.
Pakistan’s tribal belt has become a stronghold for hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaeda militants who escaped from Afghanistan after a US-led invasion toppled the hardline regime in late 2001.
Pakistan security forces have launched huge operations against the militants in Bajaur and Waziristan areas in recent years.
In February 2009, they claimed the area had been cleared, but unrest has rumbled on and militant raids have continued.
——–Agencies