Gunmen kill 5 female teachers in Pakistan
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - Gunmen in northwest Pakistan killed five female teachers and two aid workers on Tuesday in an ambush on a van carrying workers home from their jobs at a community center, officials said.
The attack was another reminder of the risks to women educators and aid workers from Islamic militants who oppose their work. It was in the same conservative province where militants shot and seriously wounded 15-year-old Malala Yousufzai, an outspoken young activist for girls' education, in October.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest shootings.
The van was transporting teachers and aid workers from the center in conservative Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It is an area where Islamic militants often target women and girls trying to get an education or female teachers.
Militants in the province have blown up schools and killed female educators. They have also kidnapped and killed aid workers, viewing them as promoting a foreign agenda.
Last month, nine people working on an anti-polio vaccination campaign were shot and killed.
The teachers were killed along with two health workers, one man and one woman. Their driver was wounded. They were on their way home from a community center in the town of Swabi where they were working at a primary school for girls and adjoining medical center.
Swabi police chief Abdur Rasheed said most of the women killed were between the ages of 20 and 22. He said four gunmen who used two motorcycles fled the scene and have not been apprehended.
The gunmen on motorcycles opened fire with automatic weapons, said Javed Akhtar, executive director of the non-governmental organization Support With Working Solutions. The NGO conducts programs in the education and health sectors and runs the community center in Swabi, he said. The group has been active in the city since 1992, and started the Ujala Community Welfare Center in 2010, he added. Ujala means "light" in Urdu.
The center is financed by the Pakistani government's Poverty Alleviation Program and a German organization, said Akhtar.
He said the NGO also runs health and education projects in the South Waziristan tribal area, as well as health projects in the cities of Tank and Dera Ismail Khan and the regions of Lower Dir and Upper Kurram. All of those cities and regions are in northwest Pakistan, the area that has been most affected by the ongoing fight with militants opposed to the current government.
Aid groups such as Support With Working Solutions often provide a vital role in many areas of Pakistan where the government has been unable to provide services such as medical clinics or schools. But in some areas like the northwest, they have had to work to overcome community fears that they are promoting a foreign agenda at odds with local traditions and values.
Akhtar said he has directed staff at all projects to stop working for the time being until security measures are reviewed but vowed that they would resume their work soon.
He said that the NGO had not received any threats before the attack.
In a case in the same province that gained international attention, a Taliban gunman shot 15-year-old Yousufzai in the head last October for criticizing the militants and promoting girls' education. She is currently recovering in Britain.
The attack was another reminder of the risks to women educators and aid workers from Islamic militants who oppose their work. It was in the same conservative province where militants shot and seriously wounded 15-year-old Malala Yousufzai, an outspoken young activist for girls' education, in October.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest shootings.
The van was transporting teachers and aid workers from the center in conservative Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It is an area where Islamic militants often target women and girls trying to get an education or female teachers.
Militants in the province have blown up schools and killed female educators. They have also kidnapped and killed aid workers, viewing them as promoting a foreign agenda.
Last month, nine people working on an anti-polio vaccination campaign were shot and killed.
The teachers were killed along with two health workers, one man and one woman. Their driver was wounded. They were on their way home from a community center in the town of Swabi where they were working at a primary school for girls and adjoining medical center.
Swabi police chief Abdur Rasheed said most of the women killed were between the ages of 20 and 22. He said four gunmen who used two motorcycles fled the scene and have not been apprehended.
The gunmen on motorcycles opened fire with automatic weapons, said Javed Akhtar, executive director of the non-governmental organization Support With Working Solutions. The NGO conducts programs in the education and health sectors and runs the community center in Swabi, he said. The group has been active in the city since 1992, and started the Ujala Community Welfare Center in 2010, he added. Ujala means "light" in Urdu.
The center is financed by the Pakistani government's Poverty Alleviation Program and a German organization, said Akhtar.
He said the NGO also runs health and education projects in the South Waziristan tribal area, as well as health projects in the cities of Tank and Dera Ismail Khan and the regions of Lower Dir and Upper Kurram. All of those cities and regions are in northwest Pakistan, the area that has been most affected by the ongoing fight with militants opposed to the current government.
Aid groups such as Support With Working Solutions often provide a vital role in many areas of Pakistan where the government has been unable to provide services such as medical clinics or schools. But in some areas like the northwest, they have had to work to overcome community fears that they are promoting a foreign agenda at odds with local traditions and values.
Akhtar said he has directed staff at all projects to stop working for the time being until security measures are reviewed but vowed that they would resume their work soon.
He said that the NGO had not received any threats before the attack.
In a case in the same province that gained international attention, a Taliban gunman shot 15-year-old Yousufzai in the head last October for criticizing the militants and promoting girls' education. She is currently recovering in Britain.
Well at least these men were kind enough to merely shoot their victims, instead of throwing acid in their faces, cutting off their noses, gouging out their eyes, raping them to death, etc. It's amazing how vicious men can be towards women who have "misbehaved" in some fashion. And you'd be surprised how often stuff like that happens in THIS country, just not en masse, so it doesn't make the world news. U.S. males don't typically use religion as an excuse, they just do what they do because some men really, really hate women. Funny how pretty much every other species of males treat females with more respect than humans do.. *sigh*Â
I wonder why such men fear women being educated?
But ignorant men have always feared change and progress.
Well whad'ya say Obama? How's that "religion of peace" working out for ya? Maybe, just maybe now you can muster the courage to call these parasites by their proper name?, they are "Terrorists". And will you finally admit that it was a "terrorist" attack in Benghazi, and not repercussions due to a little utube video?
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It's a tragedy for these innocent  women to be slaughtered in the name of Islam, and it's hatred of women. These attacks may never stop, but it sure as heII doesn't help matters that the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, Barack Obama,  openly and contiguously soft pedals, placates, and bows down to the very religion that sponsors this barbaric lifestyle. Where is our leader? What has happened to the voice of America?   Â
 @last boyscout I hate to confuse you with the facts, but...
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Obama stated in a press conference in the Rose Garden the day after the Benghazi attacks, "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for. Today we mourn four more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America. We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act. And make no mistake, justice will be done." (11/12/2012, 10:43 EDT)
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I know it's so confusing to be faced with the facts, but you'll get over it. I can't guarantee that such facts will change your tune; you've been drinking the Kool-Aid of the Anti-Obama forces for so long you can't even taste its putrid bitterness any more.
@last boyscout So Obama is supposed to publicly denounce Islam and all the Muslims that practice this religion throughout the world and brand them as evil terrorists. What do you think the outcome of this would be? Everyone converting to Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, etc? Criticizing Islam because of the acts of a few terrorists is like criticizing Christianity because of the actions of that church in Kansas.Â
@peckishpete "is like criticizing Christianity because of the actions of that church in Kansas."
Or catholics from recently all the way back to the 12th century.Â
Yet we continue to send foreign aid to these countries that condone this crap.
 @wondering Yes, WE do, don't WE?
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Just wondering, but does the government of this nation belong to the politicians or the people?
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If it's the politicians, just who could have been stupid enough to have elected them into office to make such ridiculous decisions?
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Oh, yeah, silly me...the people.
@wondering If Pakistan collapses, we won't have to worry about a nuclear Iran. We can worry about a nuclear terrorist group in Pakistan.