Unknown militants opened fire on a school van in Gali Bagh area of Swat in Pakistan on Monday in which the driver was killed and three students were injured, said local police.
According to the DIG of Malakand division Zeeshan Asghar, “We are still in the process of investigating whether it’s an incident of terrorism or enmity.”
This is not an isolated incident of firing in Swat. According to local sources, recently there have been two instances of firing in two districts of Malakand division: Lower Dir and Swat. In both incidents school vans have come under fire, a total of six students have been injured, and a driver killed.
Locals said that the militants had established their hideouts in the hilly areas of the Matta tehsil.
A few days back, wall chalking had emerged praising the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and against the security forces at a government-run school and college in Darra Adam Khel area of Kohat overnight.
On September 6, five soldiers were killed in a gun battle with TTP militants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.
On September 13, TTP claimed a bomb attack on Peace Committee leader Idrees Khan and targeted killing of Muhammad Sherin. Five people were killed in a blast in northwestern Pakistan.
TTP kidnappers demanded Rs 100 million in ransom for the release of two employees of a private cellular company. The two were part of a group of seven employees, who were abducted from the Matta Tehsil of Swat.
People in Swat and Malakand are in the grip of fear, said sources. Swat residents are protesting in large numbers against the re-emergence of the Taliban, they added.
The strength of Swat police is approximately 2,000 personnel, which is equal to almost three infantry battalions of the army, but they have failed to maintain law and order in the area. No action has been taken against the rising terrorism and extremism by Pakistani security forces, said sources.
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