Constable on polio duty shot dead in Kohat

Police say CCTV footage of attack has been obtained

KOHAT:

A police constable of Kohat police was shot dead in what appears to be another targeted attack while on polio duty in Dhal Behzadi, Kohat district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Police told The Express Tribune that constable Syed Sajid Hussain was on polio duty in the area when two bike riders opened fire at him, killing him on the spot.

The attackers managed to escape unchallenged after committing the crime. They also took away his AK-47 rifle.

“The deceased was on polio security duty and had been deployed on the main road where he was attacked and killed,” said an official of the police, adding that a large number of police rushed to the site of the attack and cordoned it off but the attackers had escaped taking full advantage of the confusion caused by the firing among the local people.

The body of the slain policeman was shifted to local hospital and then sent for an autopsy. Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) has registered an FIR against unidentified miscreants under section seven of Anti-Terrorism Act (7ATA). It is worth mentioning here that in recent months attacks at police guarding polio workers have increased as two policemen were killed in Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan in August.

Many policemen have been killed in Mardan and other districts too, including Lakki Marwat and Karak.

Police said that the recent attacks were directly linked with the situation in Afghanistan as many TTP operatives had been freed from Afghan prisons by Taliban after their takeover of the country.

District Police Officer (DPO) Kohat Khalid Sohail told media that the polio campaign was still going on uninterrupted across the district and it will be completed.

He said that security had been further tightened with more police deployment.

“We have taken CCTV footage of the attack in possession and we hope that the attackers will soon be arrested,” he said, adding that they were investigating the case from several aspects.

 

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