MARDAN, March 17: Two watchmen were injured early on Saturday when militants blew up the building of Government High School for Boys in Babozai area of Katlang tehsil in Mardan district, locals and police officials said.

Locals told Dawn that they were awakened at 2:45am by the loud explosion of an explosive device at the school and rushed to the premises and found watchmen Wakif Khan and Iftikhar with multiple injuries.

They said the two were shifted to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared condition of Mr Wakif critical.

The bomb disposal squad said that explosives used in the blast weighed around 20 kilograms.

Katlang police said the explosion destroyed three classrooms, two staff rooms and the veranda completely, while the examination hall and restrooms were partially damaged.

They said they had registered an FIR against unidentified militants.

Later in the day, senior police officials inspected the building. There followed the launch of an operation in Katlang and adjoining areas to hunt down bombers.

During the current week, it is the second militant attack in Mardan city. Earlier, militants blew up a CD market in Takht Bhai city on Malakand Road.

In southern district of Tank, over a dozen armed men wearing military uniforms stormed the house of leading trader Shaikh Allah Nawaz in Pathankot area Saturday morning and took him away along with his servant in his car.

The trader’s brother, Qayyum Nawaz, informed local police that five of the attackers entered the house, while others stayed outside holding them after covering his eyes with a piece of cloth.

He said that he heard gunshots before attackers fled with his brother and his servant. He said he later found his nine-year-old daughter injured as he was shot at by trespassers.Local police registered FIR against unidentified attackers and beganinvestigation.

However, no arrests could be made until Saturday night.

Over the last few weeks, the area has reported many cases of targeted killings and kidnapping of influential people, including members of peace committees.

In Darsamand area of Hangu district, the terrorists’ bid to blow up a bridge was thwarted by the bomb disposal squad on Saturday as they defused a 10kg bomb attached to it.

Locals said they spotted the bomb and informed police about it before the latter called in the bomb disposal squad for help.

Doaba police registered a case against unidentified terrorists and began investigation.

On Friday morning, terrorists blew up a primary school for boys in the remote area of Kotangi Marchoongi. However, no damage to human life was reported.

In Peshawar, police on Saturday foiled a bombing bid by terrorists on Sango Road in Sarband area.

Sarband police station’s official Fazal Maula told Dawn that the remote controlled bomb was planted to target the patrol vehicle.

“We got information through informers and quickly called in the bomb disposal squad to defuse it. The bomb weighing 12 kilogrammes and placed in a cooker was successfully defused by the squad,” he said.

He said police had registered a case against unidentified terrorists before beginning investigation.