Target killers on the prowl in NW

21 people have been gunned down mysteriously this year so far

MIRANSHAH:

Another man has been killed in a mysterious manner in North Waziristan tribal district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) on Wednesday.

Police told The Express Tribune that in Mir Ali tehsil unidentified people opened fire at a motorcar, killing one man and injuring another around four o’clock in the afternoon.

The deceased has been identified as Saleem while his friend Azizur Rehman was injured in the attack who was rushed to the nearby hospital where his condition is stated to be critical.

“These two men purchased grocery in Mir Ali Bazaar and were on their way back when they were intercepted and shot. The attackers managed to escape after committing the crime,” said the police official.

The family members claimed that they had no enmity with anyone and it was indeed a targeted attack. The dead body was sent for autopsy by police.

It is worth mentioning here that around 21 people have been killed so far this year in the district mysteriously by masked men despite the tight security in the area.

In each case the attackers managed to escape after committing the crime and police failed to locate and arrest the culprits even in a single of the above mentioned cases.

Due to such incidents there is a widespread panic in the area among the local people. Police and the district administration, however, claim that all these attacks are the product of personal and family feuds and locals are reluctant to register an FIR. Local residents are not willing to buy this theory demanding of the government and police to improve the law and order situation and arrest those involved.

Locals point out that these mysterious masked attackers sometimes use bikes while at other times they commit the murder using cars. They even enter the houses of their victims and kill them right in front of the eyes of family members.

Among the victims are tribal elders, businessmen and common people. Even a scrape collector was gunned down in the area who was a resident of Shabqadar, Charsadda.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2021.