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Pakistan's Olympic Committee has postponed the annual National Games due to the uncertain security situation in the country.

It was the first major national sporting event in Pakistan to be postponed due to security fears, although foreign teams and athletes have refused to tour the country for those reasons.

The Games were due to held in Peshawar in the troubled North West Frontier Province starting on Nov. 15.

"The Games have to be postponed due to circumstances beyond our control. The participating units had concerns after the recent terrorist attacks in Peshawar and Rawalpindi," a Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) statement said.

"The parents of athletes had also voiced their fears to the POA as large number of children and female athletes were to take part in the Games."

Militants launched a string of attacks on police in Lahore in the Pakistani heartland on Thursday and in the troubled northwest, killing 24 people after a week of violence in which more than 100 people died.

(Source: Reuters)