Pakistan: Two govt schools for girls blown up in North Waziristan

Islamabad [Pakistan], May 23 (ANI): Two government schools for girls in the Mirali region of Pakistan's North Waziristan were blown up around midnight on Sunday, Dawn reported citing police. No casualty has been reported in the incidents.
Attackers around midnight targeted Government Girls Middle School, Noor Jannat, and Government Girls Middle School, Yunus Kot, Dawn reported citing police. According to local residents, around 500 girls were enrolled in the two schools.
District Police Officer, North Waziristan, Saleem Riaz called the incident a terrorist attack. Riaz stated that the police's counterterrorism department will carry out an investigation into the case. He vowed that all those responsible for the attack will be brought to justice.
Earlier this month, six schoolteachers were killed in a shooting at a school in the Kurram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The six teachers were killed after another teacher was gunned down by shooting in the upper Kurram area, as per the news report.
In April, a soldier was killed during an exchange of fire with terrorists in the Mirali region of North Waziristan. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that "sanitation" activity was conducted to eliminate any terrorists found in the region.
Meanwhile, one terrorist and three soldiers were killed during the exchange of fire in the Zarghoon region of Balochistan, Dawn reported citing the military's media affairs wing. The gun battle took place when the security forces retaliated to the attack on one of their check-posts.
According to an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement, the attack by a group of terrorists was carried out against a post that was recently built to "help check extortion efforts targeting coal mines in the area," as per the Dawn report. The ISPR said that security personnel quickly retaliated to the fire.
The ISPR in the statement said, "Based on follow-up ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) effort, the likely hideout of fleeing terrorists has been identified in nearby mountains and a deliberate blocking and sanitisation operation has been launched." (ANI)
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the incident that killed 3 soldiers. The incident took place amid a rise in terrorist activity across Pakistan, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan since the ceasefire ended between the banned terrorist outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Pakistan government in November last year. (ANI)