Uniform target: Policeman, FC official killed in attacks

Two people killed in another firing incident in Mattani.

PESHAWAR: A Frontier Constabulary (FC) official on routine patrol, a policeman guarding a hospital and two people at a market were killed in separate attacks in the city on Monday.

FC official Wahid Mir was killed and three others were injured when a roadside bomb exploded in Regi Lalma Housing Scheme on the city’s outskirts on Monday.

The injured were identified as FC hawaldar Hikmatullah, police constable Manzoor and police driver Azam Khan.



Talking to The Express Tribune, a police official said a vehicle of the Regi Model Town police station was on routine patrol when it came under attack, adding the injured were rushed to Khyber Teaching Hospital. Two of the seriously injured officials were shifted to Lady Reading Hospital .

“It was a medium intensity device which inflicted substantial damage on men and material alike,” the official said. Soon after the attack, police conducted a search operation and arrested some suspected militants.

“Being close to Khyber Agency, the area provides militants a golden opportunity to escape to the tribal areas safely after such attacks,” he explained.

Policeman gunned down

A police constable was shot dead outside City Hospital on Kohat Road on Monday. Bhanamari police officials said constable Manfarullah, a resident of Badhaber, was on duty outside the hospital when two unidentified motorcyclists opened fire at him, killing him on the spot. The attackers, armed with 9mm pistols, also snatched the constable’s AK-47 rifle and successfully escaped.

Manfarullah was rushed to Lady Reading Hospital, but he was declared dead on arrival, said an official. He added the constable belonged to the Frontier Reserve Police.

Manfarullah’s funeral prayers were offered at Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines and his body was later sent to his ancestral village in Badhaber for burial.

After the attack, police officials launched a search operation in the area, but no trace of the assailants was found.

Two killed in Mattani

A man and a woman were killed while two security officials were injured when an unidentified man opened fire at them in a market in Mattani.

The assailant, armed with an AK-47, opened fire at a man outside a bank, killing him on the spot along with a woman. Police constable Farzand Ali and FC official Gula Khan were injured in the firing.

The attacker was also injured when police returned fire, but managed to escape, throwing his gun away during his flight.

Police said they were unable to identify the deceased. “The deceased male was around 55-years-old and the attacker was after him. It seems the woman was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” said a police official.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2014.