Riaz Ahmad terror hit: Death toll of Kohat Road ambush reaches nine

Bodies of three more victims of Friday’s attack found, six missing suspected to be kidnapped by militants.

PESHAWAR:

The death toll of Friday’s militant attack on Kohat Road rose to nine after police recovered the bodies of three more people from the area on Saturday.

Police said a convoy of jeeps coming from Quetta was mistaken to be a military convoy by militants who sprayed bullets at the fleet along with other vehicles present on the road in Sra Khwara.

The vehicles had stopped due to a collision between one of the jeeps and another vehicle, making them an easy target for the militants. Six among the dead are locals who had rushed to the spot to help passengers after the accident.

“Our guess is when the vehicles collided and locals rushed to the spot, militants mistook it as an army or police convoy and started firing at it,” said an official of the local police station, adding the deceased have been identified as Wajidullah, Muhammad Yousaf, Zakirullah, Dr Raj Wali, Mansoor, Naseebullah, Muhammad Din, Muhammad Yahya while one other person remains unidentified.

Six people are also said to have been kidnapped by the militants, according to the police. The official said four vehicles were found abandoned in the area on Saturday morning.

“Three [missing] people travelling in a Vitz have been identified as Fazal Rehman, Naveed and Roohullah; their relatives approached us. But the occupants of the other three vehicles are not known to us and we suspect there were at least three more people, one each in a vehicle.”

Speaking to the media at Mattani police station, SP Rural Rahimullah said a militant was also injured in the exchange of fire with police and security forces, but the assailants were able to take him away with them when they fled.

The bodies of three deceased persons of a family were sent to Darra Adam Khel for burial in their ancestral graveyard. The bodies of two brothers from Swat who were living in Sra Khwara were also shifted to their hometowns.

Police said an FIR has been registered against unidentified attackers and investigation into the case is underway.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 8^th, 2013.