Swat Valley school bus attack kills one after 10th anniversary of Malala shooting

Shots fired a day after Pakistan province marked gun attack on education activist

A school bus was fired upon in Swat Valley, Pakistan, on Monday, killing the driver. Tariq Ullah for The National

One person was killed on Monday when a van taking children to school was attacked in Swat Valley, Pakistan, the day after the area marked 10 years since education activist Malala Yousafzai was shot by the Taliban.

Police said the driver was the target. Charbagh police station chief Wahid Khan told The National that the van was fired upon while carrying a dozen pupils.

"It was a private school van hired for the students of two private schools," he said. "It was attacked with 12 students on board."

Police said the gunman, riding on a motorbike, had fired at the front seat, killing the driver and wounding a pupil. He then fled, leaving his jumper and a bike helmet behind.

Rescue-1122 representative Shafiqa Gul told The National, whose team responded to the attack, said: "The driver was dead while the injured student was shifted to the nearby local hospital where he is being treated."

The incident took place the day after the 10th anniversary of the attack on Malala Yousafzai, a noble laureate from the same district.

She was also in a school van and was returning home when she was shot in the head.

Attack sparks protest against violence

Iqbal Hussain, a member of the faculty at Khushal School and College in Pakistan's Swat region where Malala Youafzai was a pupil, teaches science to 10th grade pupils. All photos: Tariq Ullah for The National

Iqbal Hussain, a staff member at Khushal School and College, says there has been a surge in enrolment of girl pupils after the Taliban attempt to kill on Malala on October 9, 2012, for speaking up for girls' right to education.

Laila Khan shows a sketch to her psychology teacher in Khushal School and College, Mingora, a city in the Swat district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Iqbal Hussain teaches a class.

Marjan looks at a poster of Malala and her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, on a wall at Khushal School and College.

The classroom where Malala used to study at Khushal School and College. Malala, now 25, gained worldwide attention when she and two friends were shot on a school bus by Pakistani Taliban militants in 2012.

Malala's picture, along with some of her quotes, on a school notice board.

Marjan, a pupil, writes in her notebook.

School director Huma Shakir at work in her office.

Faiza Shah, a psychologist, takes a class.

Fayaz Zafar, a journalist who has covered the Taliban insurgency in Swat, poses for a picture in his office in Mingora.

Minahil, a pupil at Khushal School and College, finishes her class.

An image of Malala and her father.

A nursery class poses for a photo at Khushal School and College.

Tenth-grade pupils look at Malala's picture.

Young children at play in Khushal School and College.

The school's nursery class enjoying extracurricular activities.

Pupils take part in a sports class.

Swat has been in the grip of a spate of targeted attacks for the past two months and many residents are worried about a surge in terrorist incidents.

After Monday's shooting, the body of the driver was kept on the road as a protest and a large number of people gathered to demonstrate.

Israr Ahmad, the driver's brother, told the rally that his brother had no personal enmity with anyone and was killed for no reason.

He accused the gunman of being politically motivated.

"My brother was doing the school van duty for the last few years and he was killed because he was carrying students to get education," he said.

Police have started an investigation into Monday's incident to ascertain if it was a personal matter or related to terrorism.

The attack has not been claimed by any group.

Pupils and teachers at the Private Schools Management Association joined the protest and on Tuesday all private schools in Swat will be closed in commemoration.

Schools and educational institutions have been often been targeted by terrorist groups opposed to what or whom they teach.

On December 16, 2014, an attack on a military-run school in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s provincial capital, Peshawar, killed at least 149 children.