Taliban militants attacked a group of boys on their way to school in northwest Pakistan today, killing four and wounding three, a government official said.
The secondary school students were apparently attacked because they were minority Shia Muslims. Taliban militants are from the majority Sunni community and attack Shias as part of their strategy to fight the government.
"They opened ... fire on the students and we have reports of four deaths," said Khaista Gul, an official in the administration of the Orakzai ethnic Pashtun tribal region, where the attack took place.
Tribesmen retaliated after the attack and killed at least two militants and wounded several, said residents of the area near the region's main town of Kalaya.
Government aircraft attacked militants in a village, 30 km east of Kalaya, killing six of them and destroying four hideouts, said another government official.
Pakistani Taliban have stepped up attacks across the northwest since mid-2007, raising concern about the nuclear-armed country’s stability.
Militants in northwest Pakistan also support the Afghan Taliban and many cross over the largely unguarded border to fight US-led foreign forces there.