Gun battle in Pakistan school

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A Pakistani policeman and an Islamic militant leader have been killed in a shoot-out at a private school in the north-western town of Tank, police say.

Another militant was said to have been arrested, while a third was wounded in the clash at the Oxford Public School.

Police say firing broke out after the militant leader, Ehsan Barqi, threw a grenade at them when they tried to stop him addressing students at the college.

Police say the militants were trying to recruit boys for jihad (holy war).

Officials say the militants who tried to enter the school were all members of the "local Taleban".

"They wanted to go inside in a bid to convince the students to join them for jihad. Police knew their designs and stopped them," Tank administration chief Syed Mohsin Shah told the AFP news agency.

"In an exchange of fire the officer in charge of the local police station, Hasan Khan, was killed. One extremist was killed and another was wounded," he said.

Attacks

Police say the militants attacked a police van shortly afterwards with a hand grenade, wounding five passers-by.

The BBC's Haroon Rashid in Peshawar says the violence in Tank comes after a string of attacks on policemen by suspected pro-Taleban militants in the region.

Tank is in North-West Frontier Province, about 100km (75 miles) from the Afghan border.

It is next to the restive South Waziristan tribal region, where there have recently been heavy clashes.