Suspect behind school torching killed: Police

islamabad — The prime suspect behind the torching of 14 girls’ schools in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan region was killed during a search operation on Sunday, a police spokesman said.

The spokesman told DawnNews TV channel that Shafiq, who has no known association with any organised militant or terrorist outfits, was the prime suspect behind the brazen arson attacks targeting girls’ schools in the Chilas, Darel and Tanger tehsils of Diamer district between 2.30am and 3am on Friday.

Police in Gilgit-Baltistan said gunmen killed one police officer and wounded another during an overnight search operation for suspects linked to the torching of schools in the Diamer area.

The police began conducted raids in various parts of Diamer on Saturday to track down those responsible for the attacks. So far, 18 suspects have been arrested.

Among the schools targeted, eight were government-run while the other four were run by nonprofits in the remote and mountainous region that borders Afghanistan, China and occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

There were between 200 and 300 girls enrolled in each school on an average, taking the total enrolment to around 3,500 in the area.

In 2004, half a dozen girls’ schools had been torched in one go. Girls’ schools were also targeted by extremists in 2011 and 2015. —