|
2 schools torched in Bajaur
 Suspected Taliban militants have destroyed two more school in northwestern Pakistan near the insurgency-hit tribal border with Afghanistan. Militants set fire to two schools at Tani and Lar Keley areas in the troubled Bajaur Agency on Sunday, a Press TV correspondent reported citing local officials. Insurgents have so far destroyed more than 30 schools in the region, where Islamabad has launched a major military offensive to battle the escalating violence. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks. However, it bore the fingerprints of a pro-Taliban militant group known for targeting schools. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Maulvi Omar had earlier called on the Pakistani military to withdraw from the northwestern regions, threatening to destroy all the schools in the area. Meanwhile in northwestern Swat valley, where the government has signed a peace deal with local Taliban groups, insurgents have already demolished more than 300 schools. Violence drastically increased in Pakistan's tribal areas following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 that toppled the Taliban regime there and sent the militants across the border. Posted by: Fred 2009-02-23 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=263274 |