Pakistan: Unidentified attackers blow up under-construction girls’ school in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

A fresh wave of violence has struck Pakistan’s fragile education system. Unidentified attackers on Friday (October 24) blew up an under-construction girls’ primary school in Gara Budha village, Tank district, near Dera Ismail Khan, sparking fear and outrage among locals, The Dawn reported.

Police said explosives were planted along the school’s boundary wall and under several classrooms, causing major structural damage to a facility that was just weeks from completion. A bomb disposal unit later collected fragments of the device and assessed the destruction. Authorities have yet to identify the perpetrators or their motives.

Residents, already traumatized by years of militant attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, condemned the bombing as a direct assault on girls’ education. “This is not just an attack on a school; it’s an attack on the future of our daughters,” said a local elder.

ANI reported that the incident highlights a troubling pattern in northwest Pakistan, where militant groups have repeatedly targeted girls’ schools to intimidate communities and suppress women’s education.

In a separate incident on Friday, four employees of a mobile phone company, who were abducted earlier this week in Garah Bakhtiyar while transporting telecom equipment, were released unharmed in nearby Garah Mastan village. Police said the captors freed them, reportedly fearing capture amid an ongoing security crackdown. The Counter-Terrorism Department has registered a case against unidentified suspects.