CHILAS: At least 13 girls' schools were attacked in Chilas, about 130 kilometres from Gilgit late Thursday night. According to police sources, unidentified miscreants attacked 13 girls' schools across Diamer district and damaged school property. The attackers also torched some items in the schools. Police said that miscreants in Chilas’s Diamer area vandalized at least 13 girls’ school and set them on fire. Two schools in Ronai and Takia were targeted with explosive material. The miscreants set ablaze schools located in Hoder, Thor, Gayal village, Tabour, Khanbari, Jaglot, Gali Bala and Gali Paeen. Police arrived at the scene and initiated probe into the matter while sealing all the entry and exit points. In December 2011, at least two girls' schools were partially damaged in low-intensity explosions in Chilas. Earlier this year, unidentified assailants had also blown up two girls' schools. The year 2004 also saw a string of attacks on girls' schools in Chilas. Nine schools of which eight were girls' schools were attacked and destroyed in five days in the area in February 2004. Terrorists used to frequently bomb educational institutions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) before the launch of military operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan Agency in June 2014. Earlier in May, two schools for girls were hit by bomb explosions in Mir Ali tehsil of North Waziristan Agency. According to a report, about 1,500 schools have been destroyed in the tribal belt during the last 10 years. Nobel Prize winner and education activist Malala Yousafzai was also shot by the Taliban in 2012 for advocating the education of girls in Swat. INP
