Masked attackers: Policewoman, five of her family killed in Hangu

Four men barged into her house and opened indiscriminate fire.

PESHAWAR:

A woman attached with the Kurram Levies and five members of her family were shot dead by at least four masked men in southern Hangu district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, police officials said on Friday.

The masked men are said to have barged into her house at around 2am in the Totkas area in Thall tehsil.

One of her six-year-old nephews sustained injuries, the official said.

According to him, the dead include Shamshad Begum, her 15-year-old daughter Khanshada, 18-year-old Jehanzeba, 12-year-old Imran Khan and 22-year-old Gulzar Khan and Zartaja, wife of Gulzar Khan, while Gulzar’s six-year-old son Ishaq sustained critical injuries in the attack.

Shamshad Begum’s 20-year-old sister Janana managed to escape the attackers by hiding under a cot.

Janana later told reporters that the family had no enmity with anyone. She said that the attackers opened indiscriminate fire upon the family and only she and her nephew Ishaq survived.

Janana said she would not be able to identify any of the attackers and urged the government to arrest the murderers.

Police sources said that Shamshad Begum was deputed at the Chapri check-post, just across the border between Kurram and Hangu.

She had helped in the arrest of several militants at this particular check-post and was also on the ‘hit list’ of local militants.

Shamshad, who was a widow, was said to be a resident of Bannu district, but for years had been living in Totkas.

Shamshad Begum had been receiving death threats from the Taliban for some time, senior administration official Khalid Khan told AFP.

Local police official Fazal Hussain said about a dozen militants armed with rockets, hand grenades and assault rifles raided the house at 3:30 am, first launching a rocket before barging into the house and opening fire.

Police on Friday also defused two hand-grenades from the crime scene and the dead bodies were shifted to the Thall Civil Hospital.

In a separate incident eight militants were killed and 11 injured in security forces’ shelling in Kurram Agency.

Security forces fired mortar shells on militant hideouts in the agency which resulted in the casualties. Meanwhile, a would-be suicide bomber was shot dead in Kohat after security forces opened fire at him.

According to the police, the potential suicide bomber was targeted near a passport office, and got injured.

Officials said the bomber was wearing an explosive vest and took out a hand grenade when attacked.

The police opened fired at him again which resulted in his death.

The police have cordoned off the area and the bomb disposal squad was also called in.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15th, 2011.