Daily Times

Pakistani security forces raided a militant hideout in a former Taliban stronghold Tuesday, killing an insurgent allegedly involved in the killing of four women from a vocational school a day earlier, the military said In a statement, the military identified the slain man as Hassan Khan, who also went by the name Sajna, and said he was a local commander of a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban. The statement didn’t specify Khan’s alleged role in the killing of the women. The vocational school instructors were killed Monday when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in the village of Epi in Mir Ali, a town in a northwest North Waziristan district. Their driver was wounded. The military said the slain local Taliban commander was also involved in militant activities against security forces and civilians. It provided no further details but authorities had said they launched a search in the region to find the militants who killed the women. The four slain women were from a private vocational school, Bravo Institute of Technology. Under an agreement with the Sabawon Pakistan charity, the school had planned to train 140 residents for skilled occupations that would allow them to open their own businesses. The attack drew condemnation from rights activists on social media, with most demanding swift action against those responsible.