Islamabad, Jul. 22, (dpa/GNA) – A girls’ school was blown up by suspected militants in north-western Pakistan near the Afghan border, in yet another incident targeting female education, officials said on Monday.

The building was blown up with explosives in North Waziristan, stoking fresh fears about the safety of female students, whose education has been a target of Islamists for years.

The school building was blown up during the night, a local police officer Mehboob Khan told dpa.

No loss of life was reported in the incident in which five out of seven classrooms were reduced to rubble. Around 255 students are enrolled in the school which is currently closed for summer vacations.

Khan said that the police began investigations after collecting evidence from the site of the attack.

North Waziristan had long served as a headquarters for al-Qaeda and the affiliated Taliban before they were chased out by the military in a series of offensives since 2014.

The Pakistani Taliban, a group that follows the same hard-line Islam as its Afghan counterparts but has a different organization, have bombed girls’ schools in the past.

The latest attack comes amid a surge in violence in the country stoking fears that the militants can again target students as they did in 2014 when about 150 kids were killed at a military-run school. 

GNA