KOHAT/MIRANSHAH:
A renewed wave of terrorist violence is sweeping across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, with police and other law enforcement agencies increasingly coming under attack. The terror surge coincides with escalating tensions with Afghanistan, where the Russian Foreign Ministry warned on Tuesday that thousands of terrorists remain active.
In the latest violence, at least seven people, including a senior police officer, were martyred in an ambush on a police patrol vehicle in Kohat district, while a police constable was killed in a gun attack in South Waziristan.
Tuesday’s attacks came a day after three Federal Constabulary personnel were martyred and three rescuers injured in Karak district, where terrorists targeted two ambulances transporting law enforcers wounded in an earlier quadcopter attack on an FC fort in the area.
Official said terrorists targeted a police van on Shakardara Road in Kohat, which resulted in the martyrdom of DSP Asad Mahmood and six others. The attackers set the vehicle on fire and burned a wounded police official alive. Among the seven martyrs were five police personnel, one under-custody suspect and one civilian passerby. The injured included three police officials and one prisoner.
The martyred officers were identified as SDPO Lachi Asad Mahmood and Reader Wahab Ali, who were burned to death, while Driver Mudassar, FC official Syed Amir Abbas, Sub-Inspector Anar Gul, detainee Yousaf Khan and passerby Samiullah were killed in the terrorists’ firing. The injured included DSP’s gunman Aqab Hussain, Mohib-ur-Rehman, Ahmed Abbas and a detainee identified as Zahoor.
According to the Kohat District Police Officer (DPO), the incident occurred when a police team was transporting an under-custody suspect and came under attack in the suburban area along Shakardara Road. The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital, while security forces cordoned off the area and launched an investigation.
Policeman martyred in Wana
In a separate incident reported from Wana, the main town in Lower South Waziristan, a police constable was martyred after terrorists opened fire in the Maghel Khel village area.
District Police Officer (DPO) Lower South Waziristan Muhammad Tahir Shah Wazir confirmed the targeted attack and identified the martyr as Constable Ataullah. The body was shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital Wana for legal formalities and post-mortem examination.
Police said security in the area has been tightened following the attack and investigations were underway. DPO Wazir stated that efforts were ongoing to identify and arrest those involved and that the responsible elements would be brought to justice at all costs.
The incident comes at a time when the security situation has deteriorated over the past year in Lower South Waziristan, Upper South Waziristan and North Waziristan. According to local tribesmen, incidents of bomb explosions, targeted killings, kidnappings for ransom, extortion and attacks on police and security checkpoints have increased in these districts.
The worsening law and order situation has triggered growing concern among the local population, with tribesmen expressing fears over the safety of their lives and property. Traders and members of the business community say commercial activities have also been adversely affected due to the prevailing uncertainty.
Local elders have demanded effective and sustained measures to restore durable peace and stability in the region so that normal life can resume.
Condemnations pour in
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the terrorist attack of ‘Fitna al Khwarij’ in Kohat.
The president and the prime minister paid tribute to DSP Asad Mahmood and other personnel who embraced martyrdom. They also expressed condolences and sympathies with the bereaved families of the martyred DSP and other martyrs.
The president said the martyred personnel had made huge sacrifices for the motherland.
He further reiterated that the cancer of terrorism, perpetrated under the foreign patronage, was being rooted out from the country, the President Secretariat Media Wing said in a press release. “The menace of terrorism will be eradicated from the country,” PM Office Media Wing, in a press release, quoted the prime minister as saying.
