CHITRAL: A room in a government-run primary school was partially damaged when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in the early hours of Sunday morning in a village of Arandu Gol near the Pak-Afghan border.

Chitral district police officer Furqan Bilal confirmed the incident. He said the bomb disposal squad was searching for mines and bombs in the area and that nothing could be said at this stage about the identity of the saboteurs.

He said investigations by different agencies were in progress to trace the people involved in the blast at the two-room school.

Drosh sub-divisional police officer Iqbal Karim, who had visited the area, told Dawn that the aluminum roof of the room and its furniture and windowpanes were damaged in the blast.

He said that another IED went off on a pathway near the school when a contingent of police was returning from the place of blast, but they escaped it as they had changed their route.

Mr Karim said the school was located at a half-mile distance from the Afghan border and it was most likely that the saboteurs had crossed into the area in the dark of night. He said it was the first incident of its kind in the area as due to strict surveillance of the area by security forces no such incident was possible in the daytime.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2018