A group of militants used kerosine to set fire to a girls’ school in a former Pakistani Taliban stronghold, destroying furniture, computers and books, the police said on Wednesday.

No one was hurt in the overnight attack in North Waziristan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local police official Rehmat Ullah said. Two other girls’ schools in the region were bombed earlier this month.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but authorities suspect Islamic militants, who targeted girls’ schools years ago, saying that women should not be educated.

North Waziristan is a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, who are also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. It is a separate group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021.

The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan has emboldened the Pakistani Taliban.

Iranian firing

At least four Pakistani citizens were killed and two others injured on Wednesday when Iranian forces opened unprovoked firing on a vehicle in a border town of Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, according to authorities.

The incident took place late on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday in Tehsil Mashkil Bacha Rai, a Levies source said.