Gunshots on school van in Battagram leave at least six wounded

At least six people were injured in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Battagram district after armed assailants opened fire on a school van, allegedly due to a personal enmity with the driver.

A Battagram police spokesperson, Gul Nabi, said the van was targeted near the Piwahari area, leaving “five students and the van driver injured.”

The victims were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital in Battagram. One of them, in critical condition, was referred to the Ayub Medical Complex in Abbottabad.

“A first information report [FIR] was lodged and efforts to arrest the suspect are underway,” Dawn quoted Nabi as saying.

Amjad Khan, the station house officer (SHO) at Kuzabanda Police Station, said the incident stemmed from a “personal vendetta” against the van driver.

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The assailant recklessly opened fire on the van, endangering the lives of the children on board.

Syed Raqib Shah, President of the Private Education Network (PEN) in Battagram, condemned the attack and described it as an “act of terrorism.”

Shah urged the Battagram police chief to take swift action and file a case under anti-terrorism laws. He warned that failure to apprehend the culprit could lead to a strong backlash from the local community.

Just last month, a senior civil judge and a lawyer were shot and killed by unidentified motorcyclists in Nowshera district. The police chief there, Abdur Rasheed, said the attack appeared to be motivated by a personal conflict.