TAXILA: Two girls were killed and five inj­ured after gunmen opened fire at a school van in the Dheri Kot area of Attock on Thu­rsday, according to eyewitnesses and police sources.

The pickup van was carrying students of a school run by a charity from Dheri Kot village to Surg in the foothills of Kalla Chitta range when two persons riding a motorcycle intercepted the vehicle and opened fire.

The assailants’ target was the van driver, Attock District Police Officer (DPO) Sardar Ghayas told reporters, adding that the motive behind the attack was an old enmity.

According to eyewitnesses, as attackers opened fire, the driver accelerated, and the bullets hit the children sitting in the rear of the vehicle.

The deceased children have been identified as Rameen Shafiq, 9 and Arwa Jamshaid, 10.

According to district emergency officer Ali Has­nian, five children aged between four and 12 and the driver were injured in the attack. They have been shifted to the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital for treatment.

The injured were identified as Muhaib Ali, 8; Sumeria Bibi, 7; Shahzif Shafiq, 8; Haseeb Ali, 12; Shahzim Shabbir, 4; and Muhammad Afzal, 48.

DPO Gul, while talking to reporters outside the DHQ Hospital, ruled out terrorism as the motive behind the attack. He added that initial investigation suggested the gunmen, identified as Nasir and Nasim, targeted the van due to a personal enmity with the driver.

A case has been registered against the suspects and police are conducting raids to arrest them, he added.

A police spokesman also said human and digital intelligence is being used to trace the culprits.

While quoting the Atto­­ck police spokesman, Wa­­se­em Babar, AFP reported that the gunmen were em­­broiled in court cases with the family of the driver.

Attock Deputy Commis­sioner Rao Atif Raza assu­red the victims’ families of justice and hoped the culprits would be arrested soon.

Sheikh Aftab Ahmad, PML-N’s National Assem­bly member from Attock, also visited the injured students in the hospital.

“Firing on children in a school van is an act of brutality,” he said, adding that the attackers “deserve no leniency”.

Shock and sorrow

Meanwhile, a pall of gloom descended upon the Dheerikot area when the victims’ bodies were brought to their homes.

Mourners consol­ed Muhammad Shafiq, whose daughter lost her life and the son was injured. The victims’ last rites were performed at a local graveyard.

Condemnations

The president, prime minister and other political leaders have condemned the attack.

In his message, Presid­ent Asif Ali Zardari said strict action must be taken against the attackers.

“Targeting innocent chi­­l­­dren is a cruel and sha­­­­meful act,” he was quo­ted as saying in a statement from the President’s House.

He prayed for the dec­e­ased, as well as for the speedy recovery of the injured children.

Prime Minister Sheh­baz Sharif also called the attack a “cruel and gruesome” act.

According to Radio Pak­istan, the prime minister expres­sed so­­lidarity with the berea­ved families and prayed for the departed souls.

Interior Minister Moh­sin Naqvi, National Asse­m­bly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, Pun­jab Governor Sardar Sale­­em Haider and PPP Chair­man Bilawal Bhutto-Zard­ari also condemned the attack.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz sought a report on the provincial police chief, according to a statement issued by her public relations officer.

She expressed deep grief over the death of the two students and directed the authorities to provide the best treatment facilities to the injured.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2024