Search operations: Three ‘militants’ killed in Mohmand

Two Levies men laid to rest in Ghalanai

SHABQADAR: Security officials on Monday claimed to have killed three ‘militants’ in a gun battle at Qandari Safi of Safi tehsil in the Mohmand tribal area.

The gun fight broke out during a search operation in the area following Sunday’s killing of two Levies Force personnel in an attack on a check-post, a senior security official said. “The militants were killed when they ambushed those carrying out the search operation”.

The official said that security forces also confiscated a cache of arms and ammunition from the militants.

A political administration official, while confirming the account, said: “Although the bodies of the militants could not be retrieved, it is believed that those who took part in the ambush were three in number.”

Meanwhile, the two Levies Force members who were killed in an attack on Sunday night were laid to rest on Monday in their ancestral graveyard in the tribal headquarters at Ghalanai.

The two men were identified as Zakir and Masood Shah.

The funeral ceremony was attended, among others, by Political Agent Mehmood Aslam, his deputies and other senior officials.

Meanwhile, a house-to-house search was conducted in the area in which a large number of suspects were detained under collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR).

The political agent announced a compensation package amounting to Rs100,000 each for the Levies men killed in the incident and said that two members of their families would be accommodated in the Khasadar Force.

The Levies officials had been killed after militants attacked a check post at Khanqa marble mines in the Safi area.

Officials of the political administration said that they had suspended all privileges, including allowances and Khasadar salaries, of tribesmen living in the vicinity of the marble mine.

Explosive material used for blasting in the mine had also been seized, officials said.

The tribal administration has already banned mining in Ziarat and Khanqa areas under the collective responsibility clause of the FCR.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2016.