Miscreants torch construction machinery in Waziristan

Machinery had been stored in a temporary camp by company

MIRANSHAH:

Unidentified armed men once again entered the camp of a road construction company in Mir Ali, North Waziristan tribal district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and torched its machinery on Saturday.

Local residents told The Express Tribune that in Harmaz village a road was under construction and the machinery had been stored in a temporary camp by the company where armed men entered last night and set a mixer on fire in addition to targeting a water tanker.

“They set the mixer on fire after throwing kerosene on it and also fired with their guns at the water tanker,” said an eye witness, adding that there were several labourers in the camp but they were not harmed by the attackers who later escaped in the darkness.

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It is worth mentioning here that two weeks ago armed men raided the camp of another constriction company in Ghulam Khan and made the workers hostage at gun point. They then put kerosene on all the vehicles and construction machinery and set it on fire. The total damage was estimated at Rs70 million in total as the claim of the contractor. The attackers then left without harming the workers.

Police claimed that both the incidents were related to extortion as all the contractors working in Waziristan were constantly receiving extortion calls from Afghan SIMs.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2021.