Supposed motorcycle militants ambushed a vehicle with instructors at 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 city in the district of North Waziristan in an old tribal region bordering Afghanistan, said Shafi Ullah Khan Gandapur, the district’s chief of police.
Police said the murdered women were sent to the village by the Bravo Institute of Technology, Peshawar, under an agreement with Pakistan’s Sabawon charity. They planned to train 140 residents for specialized occupations that would allow them to open their own businesses.
“Is this the way to repay the hard work they are doing for the poor?” Fayaz Khan, the school’s chief executive, told NBC News.
Arfan Ullah Marwat, a spokesman for the Sabawon charity, said the women were not his employees.
Gandapur said the attack could have been prevented if the police had received a request for security in an area where militants have stepped up attacks on troops in recent months.
The injured driver, Abdul Khaliq, said he saw attackers on two motorcycles opening fire and then fleeing. He said he was hired by the Bravo Institute to take women from the city of Bannu to the city of Mir Ali and return.
The attack attracted the condemnation of rights activists on social media, with the majority demanding swift action against those responsible.
Pakistani militants have intensified their activities in the region in recent months, raising fears that they were regrouping in the area, which was a former Taliban stronghold.
Militants also 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 military secured the regions in 2015.