Afghanistan: Suspected Taliban militants have beheaded a teacher in central Afghanistan, the latest gruesome attack on teachers working in schools in which girls are taught.
Armed men burst into the home of Malim Abdul Habib in Qalat, the capital of restive Zabul province, on Tuesday night. They dragged him into a courtyard and forced his family to watch as they cut off his head, said Ali Khel, a local government spokesman.
Mr Habib was head of Shaikh Mathi Baba, a co-educational secondary school with 1,300 pupils. Threatening notices calling for an end to the education of girls had been pinned to shop walls in the town in recent months.
Last month, gunmen shot a teacher in the Helmand province after he ignored orders to stop teaching girls.
Nabi Khushal, director of education in Zabul, said 100 of the province's 170 registered schools had been closed over the past two years, mostly in remote areas, due to deteriorating security. Only 8 per cent of the pupils were girls, he said.
Unicef spokesman Edward Carwardine said: "We hope these incidents will not deter families from sending their children to school." - (Guardian service)