By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan
A 12-year old child has been killed in Pakistan after a teacher accidentally fired a gun he was carrying in school on Thursday.
Police said eyewitnesses told them that the teacher accidentally pulled the trigger while cleaning his firearm, which he was allowed to carry as part of measures introduced in the aftermath of a Taliban massacre at a school in December 2014.
The student, Maaz Ali, was walking through the corridor of the school in the northwestern Swat valley's Sanlgota town, when he was hit in the head by the misfired bullet.
"We have taken the accused, Majid Rahim, into custody and a case is being lodged against him for unintentional murder," Naseer Bacha, the town police chief, told Anadolu Agency.
Some provincial governments allowed teachers to carry firearms in the aftermath of December's Peshawar school massacre, when Taliban gunmen killed more than 135 students.
Students were also given firearms training as part of the policy which was intended, in the case of a similar attack, to give teachers and students a chance to defend themselves while security forces responded.
Some critics have however repeatedly warned that having more guns in schools is likely to increase, rather than reduce, the risks to students.
