Pakistan school gun battle leaves two dead

Police shot dead a suspected militant recruiter at a boys school in northwestern Pakistan on Monday after hearing that he was trying to sign up students for suicide bombings and holy war, police said.

One police officer was killed by a hand grenade during the brief clash.

Three suspected militants turned up at the privately run Oxford Public School in Tank, a town about 60 miles from the Afghan border, on Monday morning, local police chief Mumtaz Khan said.

“We heard that they were looking for children to prepare them for jihad and for suicide attacks,” Khan said.

The school teaches English language to boys aged between five and 17. It was closed when a reporter visited later on Monday, and its administrators could not be reached for comment.

Police said the militants had asked the school’s administrators to assemble the students so that they could address them, but ran outside the school grounds when officers arrived at the scene.

One of the militants, identified as Ahsan Burki, threw a hand grenade which fatally wounded one police officer, Khan said. The officers opened fire, killing Burki and injuring one of his companions.

The third suspect was arrested.