Terror threats close schools

2009-10-20 21:02

Karachi - Pakistani schools and colleges have closed because of fears about militant attacks after twin suicide bombings at a university campus on Tuesday, officials said.

In the southern Sindh province, which is home to Pakistan's financial capital Karachi, the regional education secretary said 50 000 schools and colleges have shut down until Sunday.

"The decision has been taken to avoid any untoward incident in (the) wake of (the) current security situation in the country particularly after the attack in Islamabad," Rizwan Memon told AFP.

The federal government and armed forces already announced that they were closing their schools as a precaution against terrorism.

"This is an internal security lapse. We have already advised the educational institutions to tighten their security," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters after the Islamabad university blasts on Tuesday.

University bombing

The president of the International Islamic University, where five people were killed on Tuesday, said the campus would remain closed until Saturday.

A spokesperson for Defence, in the upmarket army-run neighbourhood in the eastern metropolis of Lahore, said all its schools had been closed until Saturday.

"We have taken this decision keeping in mind the security situation in the city and directions from the federal government to close down schools," said spokesperson Tajamul Hussain.

Many private schools in Islamabad and adjoining Rawalpindi city informed parents by telephone they were shutting down temporarily for security reasons.

In North West Frontier Province, the provincial government spokesperson said all private and state-run schools and colleges had been closed for five days.

A barrage of attacks since October 5, including assaults on three security buildings in Lahore last Thursday, has left around 180 people dead.

- SAPA