Search operation: IED blast kills tribal elder in Mohmand agency

SHABQADAR: A former peace committee member and pro-government tribal elder was killed in a roadside blast in Mohmand Agency on Sunday.

The political administration in the tribal agency confirmed that Malak Darya Khan Safi was critically injured when an improvised explosive device blew up in the Chinari area. Malak Darya Khan was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

A search operation is under way to apprehend those responsible for the attack.

This was not the first time that Malak or his tribesmen have been targeted in an attack. In November 2014, seven members of his tribe, including two family members, were killed in a similar IED attack in the same area.

In a Jirga convened on Friday, he had urged fellow tribesmen to support the government in its effort to maintain peace in the area.

Tribal peace committees were formed in 2010-11 in the wake of a military operation for maintaining peace. Its members were given cash and ammunition from the administration for maintaining peace in the agency. However, these entities were dissolved in 2015 after the restoration of peace and the deployment of the Levies Force, but their status as pro-government tribal elders was kept intact, for their support to the government.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th, 2016.