Suspected militants on motorcycles ambushed a vehicle carrying instructors from a private vocational school in northwest Pakistan on Monday, killing four women and wounding the driver before fleeing, police said. The attack took place in the village of Epi in Mir Ali, a city in the North Waziristan district in a former tribal area bordering Afghanistan, said Shafi Ullah Khan Gandapur, a district police chief.
Police said the women killed were sent to the town by the Bravo Institute of Technology, Peshawar, under an agreement with the charity Sabawon Pakistan. They planned to train 140 residents for skilled careers that would enable them to open their own businesses.
“Is this the way to give back to someone for the hard work they did for the poor?” Fayaz Khan, the principal, told NBC News.
Arfan Ullah Marwat, a spokesman for the Sabawon charity, said the women were not their employees.
Gandapur said the attack could have been avoided if the police had received a request for security in an area where militants have increased on the attacks on troops over the past few months.
The wounded driver, Abdul Khaliq, said he saw attackers on two motorcycles shoot open and flee. He said he was appointed by the Bravo Institute to take the women from the city of Bannu to the city of Mir Ali and back.
The attack leads to condemnation of rights activists on social media, with the most demanding swift action against those responsible.
Pakistani militants have intensified their activities in the region in recent months, expressing fears that they are rebuilding in the area, which was a former Taliban stronghold.
Militants are also attacking Pakistani troops in the former tribal areas 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.