Islamic State claim killing intelligence officer in Charsadda

PESHAWAR: An intelligence officer was shot dead on Monday as unidentified motorcyclists opened fire at him in Charsadda, police said.

Akbar Ali was on his way to work in Peshawar when heavily armed motorcyclists opened fire at him, killing him on the spot. "The incident has all the markings of a target killing," DPO Sohail Khalid told The Express Tribune.



"Akbar Ali was hit by four bullets from the front and was killed on the spot," Khalid said, adding that the attackers used a 9mm pistol and fled the scene.

The body of the deceased sub-inspector was shifted to district headquarter hospital in Charsadda, where doctors carried out an autopsy.

The attack was later claimed by the Islamic State group in a short statement posted on Amaq, its affiliated news agency. "Islamic State fighters have killed a Pakistan intelligence agent in the Sardaryab region... of Pakistan," it said, referring to the local area.

Police and other law enforcement agencies have been particular targets of banned outfits in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Some 1,300 policemen have lost their lives in the province since 2007.



Pakistan Army last month admitted for the first time that the Islamic State group had a presence in the country but said it had detained hundreds of its militants and prevented them from carrying out major attacks. The army's spokesman said its forces had foiled planned attacks by IS on embassies and Islamabad airport, but denied the group was behind an August attack on a hospital that killed 73, as it had claimed.

IS, which has struggled for traction in Pakistan in the face of competition from well-established groups, gained its first toehold in January 2015 when six Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan leaders switched their allegiance from Al-Qaeda.