4 Forest Dept employees kidnapped in Bannu

Police constable also gunned down in district

BANNU:

Four employees of Forest Department were reportedly kidnapped from Bannu district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) on Monday.

In a separate incident last night a police constable was also gunned down in the same district.

Police told The Express Tribune that a Forest Range Officer, a Forest Guard, Assistant Monitoring Division Officer and a driver went to the Barani Dam area in the former Frontier Region (FR) Bannu on a routine visit where they were kidnapped by unidentified miscreants on Monday October 25.

“The monitoring officer is a woman identified as Shaista Bibi who had been kidnapped along with driver, forest guard and a colleague. This incident happened in the tribal territory known as Wazir Sub-Division,” claimed police while talking to The Express Tribune, adding that an FIR has been registered on the written complaint of Divisional Forest Officer Inamullah Dawar and police opened investigation in the case.

“Their vehicle was found abandoned near Barani Dam area which has been taken into possession by police,” he said, adding that the four government employees had been shifted to undisclosed location.

On the other hand, the slain police constable of Bannu police Ihsanullah was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard after his last rites were offered at police lines with full guard of honour. He had been shot dead on Monday evening by unidentified miscreants who were riding a bike and managed to escape after committing the crime. Ihsanullah was posted at Cantt police station.

Read Ex-CTD official held for kidnapping, murder

Police said that it was a targeted attack and the deceased policeman had no personal enmity with anyone. “It is (a case of) terrorism and is part of the recent wave of attacks at police,” said a police official while talking to The Express Tribune.

Just a day ago on Sunday a police constable Ikramullah was killed by unidentified attackers in Dera Ismail Khan district who was returning from polio security duty. The attackers snatched his bike as well as official AK-47 rifle and managed to escape after committing the crime in broad daylight.

It is worth noting here that two policemen were killed in Peshawar this month while another one was killed in Nowshera district and two others were targeted in a roadside IED attack in Bajauar tribal district.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2021.