Target killing: Phandu ASI shot dead in Yakatoot

9mm pistol used by assailants in attack

PESHAWAR: Phandu assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Qaisar Shah Bacha was gunned down in what appears to be a target killing. He was attacked by unidentified men in Panj Khatta Chowk within the jurisdiction of Yakatoot police station Wednesday morning.

Bacha stopped at the market to buy groceries on his way home after completing his duty when two men attacked him. He was shot with a 9mm pistol and died on the spot.

Talking to The Express Tribune, an official of Yakatoot police station said, “Bacha was actually a resident of Musazai village but was currently living in Panj Khatta with his second wife in a rented house.”

He said the attackers came there on foot, opened fire on him and fled from the crime scene. Police reached the site soon after the attack and shifted the body to the police station from where it was sent for an autopsy.

The funeral prayers for the deceased were offered at Malik Saad Shaheed Lines and were attended by high-ranking police officials and Peshawar DC Riaz Mehsud. His body was sent to Musazai for burial.

“It is indeed an incident of target killing where attackers typically use a 9mm pistol,” said a police official. He added they were investigating the matter.

Bacha was born in 1967 in Musazai village and joined the police force as a constable in January 1990. He was promoted to the rank of ASI in 2012.

It is worth mentioning Panj Khatta in Yakatoot has seen brutal killings and bomb blasts targeting houses of wealthy individuals by extortionists. Several policemen have been killed in a similar manner in the past few years here.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2016.