Five women teachers and a man working for a charity were shot dead in a drive-by shooting after they left a community centre in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, police said.

All the victims were Pakistani citizens and the incident happened on Tuesday in the Swabi area, close to a junction for the motorway which connects the northwestern city of Peshawar to the capital Islamabad and the eastern city of Lahore.

“They were on their way back home when unknown gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on their vehicle,” he told AFP.

“Six women and a man have died. The driver is injured. We are investigating the motives of the attack.”

Five women working on a UN-backed polio vaccination campaign are dead after gunmen, thought to be from the Taliban, attack two Pakistani cities earlier in the month of December.

No-one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack that illustrate the continued challenge Pakistan faces from militants despite military operations against the Pakistani Taliban and their supporters.