"We will never allow the girls of this area to go and get a Western education"

Fifteen students, boys and girls, from Kohat University were on their way home to Parachinar when unknown “extremists” stopped the vehicle and threw acid at the girls and shot one of the boys, according to Uddin.

Two girls, Zahida and Nabila, and one more boy had suffered burns, Uddin said, while Mohammad Ali, a fourth boy, was the student who was shot.

“After throwing acid on the students the assailants opened fire on the van,” Uddin said.

He said the girls who were targeted “are alive and out of danger now, but their faces are badly scarred.”