In a third incident this month targeting female education, another girls' school in North-western Pakistan near the Afghan border was reportedly burnt down by suspected militants, reported IANS.

The compound was set ablaze with the help of kerosene on Monday night, May 27, in the region of North Waziristan, creating fresh concerns about the safety of female students, whose education has been a target of Islamists for years in the country.

The incident, which occurred in the remote region, was reported today, Wednesday, May 29, local police chief Rehan Khan said.

North Waziristan had long served as a headquarters for al-Qaeda and the affiliated Taliban before they were chased out by the military in a series of offensives in 2014, IANS added.

The Pakistani Taliban, a group that follows the same hard-line Islam as its Afghan counterparts but has a different organisation, have bombed girls' schools in the past.

Hundreds of girls' schools were bombed in Waziristan and Swat, the hometown of Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai, between 2007 and 2009, when the Pakistani Taliban ruled these regions.

The latest attacks, after a gap of many years, have stoked fears that the militants can again target students as they did in 2014, when around 150 kids were killed at a military-run institution.