Militants suspected of motorcycles ambushed a vehicle carrying instructors from a private vocational school in northwest Pakistan on Monday, killing four women and injuring the driver before fleeing, police said. The attack took place in the village of Epi in Mir Ali, a town in the North Waziristan district of a former tribal region bordering Afghanistan, said Shafi Ullah Khan Gandapur, the district police chief.
Police said the killed women were sent to the village by the Bravo Institute of Technology, Peshawar, under an agreement with the charity Sabawon Pakistan. They had planned to train 140 residents for skilled occupations, which would allow them to open their own businesses.
“Is this the way to give back to someone for the hard work they were doing for the poor?” Fayaz Khan, the school’s executive director, told NBC News.
Arfan Ullah Marwat, a spokesman for the charity Sabawon, said women were not their employees.
Gandapur said the attack could have been avoided if police had received a security request in an area where militants have stepped up attacks on troops in recent months.
The injured driver, Abdul Khaliq, said he saw aggressors on two motorcycles opening fire and then fleeing. He said he was hired by the Bravo Institute to take women from Bannu to Mir Ali and back.
The attack was condemned by social activists for rights on social networks, the most demanding quick action against those responsible.
Pakistani militants have intensified their activities in the region in recent months, raising fears of regrouping in the area, which was a former Taliban stronghold.
Militants often attack Pakistani troops in the former tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.
The districts of North and South Waziristan served as the main base for local and foreign militants until the army secured the regions in 2015.