Crime roundup: FC man shot dead at Panj Khatta Chowk

Kidnapping incident being probed, powerful bomb defused

PESHAWAR:

A Frontier Corps (FC) man was shot dead by unidentified motorcyclists at Panj Khatta Chowk on Monday.

Three other people were injured in the gun attack which took place in the jurisdiction of Yakatoot police station. A police official told The Express Tribune Abdul Raziq Afridi was a member of the Khyber Rifles unit and was on a two-month leave when he was ambushed in the marketplace.



“He (Afridi) was from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) but was residing in Panj Khatta. He went to the market to buy groceries when unidentified gunmen opened fire at him, killing him on the spot,” said the police official, adding three others including a minor boy were also injured in the attack. The injured were rushed to the hospital where they were said to be in stable condition. The gunmen, meanwhile, managed to flee the scene of the crime.

“We believe it to be a target killing incident,” said the policeman, sharing an ASI of Peshawar police, Asif Mehmood, was killed in the same area in a targeted attack before Eid. “Most residents of Yakatoot hail from Mohmand Agency and we suspect that at least some of them have close ties with militants actively involved in target killings.”

The police official maintained these terrorists frequently change their hideouts because of which targeted operations are not effective. Several army personnel and policemen in the area have been killed since Ramazan with no signs of the violence letting up.

In a separate incident, a man was reportedly kidnapped from Hayatabad on Monday. The man was identified as Attaullah, a resident of Charsadda. Police said they had received information of the incident and were investigating the matter. “If someone has been kidnapped, their relative will come to us and lodge an FIR,” said a police official, indicating they could not be sure of the incident till they are approached by a relative of the kidnapped person.

Meanwhile, an 80 kilogramme bomb was defused on Bara Road during Eid. Pishtakhara police said they tried to intercept a suspicious vehicle but its driver sped away. The police found the car abandoned by the roadside. During inspection, a powerful explosive device was found planted in the car and was subsequently defused by the bomb disposal unit.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2014.