The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Peshawar Region on Saturday gunned down two suspected militants, belonging to a banned outfit, after confirmation of their involvement in the attack on a late-night attack on a police station located on the outskirts of the city a day earlier in which three cops, including a deputy superintendent of police, embraced martyrdom.
The CTD was tipped off about the presence of the attackers in Peshawar’s Sarband Shinwari area.
As soon as the CTD and other law enforcement personnel reached there, the terrorists started shooting.
The security officials retaliated which resulted in the killing of two terrorists identified as Gul Hayyee alias Minhaj and Hazrat Umar alias Mansoor.
Hayee is said to be a resident of Bara town in Khyber district.
The other is believed to be a resident of Peshawar's Yakatoot area.
A CTD spokesperson said a large amount of arms and ammunition were recovered from the possession of the terrorists.
He added that two or three militants escaped by taking advantage of the darkness.
Both the slain terrorists were wanted by CTD in several cases.
A heavy contingent of police reached the scene and started a search operation to arrest the terrorists who had managed to escape.
Earlier, five people embraced martyrdom in two separate attacks in the provinces of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab – both claimed by the terrorist outfit, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)
Three of them embraced martyrdom in a terrorist attack on late Friday night at the Sarband police station in Peshawar.
The martyrs included DSP Badhabir Sardar Hussain and his two police guards -- Irshad and Jehanzeb.
According to reports, the terrorists used grenades and also resorted to firing during the attack.
K-P IGP Moazzam Jah Ansari on Saturday told the media that the attackers fled when the police retaliated.
The police, headed by SSP Operations Peshawar Kashif Abbasi, conducted a search operation in the area following the attack but they were unable to apprehend the assailants.
The DSP was wearing a bulletproof vest but the attackers shot him in the head using a sniper weapon.
The other policemen were attacked with sniper weapons as well.
The IGP said the DSP parked the vehicle at the checkpoint and was entering from the back gate when the terrorists targeted him.
He further informed the media that this was for the first time terrorists had used sniper weapons in Peshawar.
He added that sniper weapons were already being used in Bannu, Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan.
The IGP said the provincial government had approved the purchase of thermal sites weapons and night weather drone technology for the police.
“Thermal [weapon] sights are mounted on top of weapons. Thermal guns enable [us] to see [clearly] from afar,” he explained.
He added that so far 40 thermal site weapons had been received, 20 of them already dispatched to Bannu and the rest to Dera Ismail Khan.
He continued that phase one of the Peshawar Safe City Project would start before June.
“Cameras have been installed in all the police stations of the city,” he added.
The K-P police chief lauded the bravery of his force for countering the attack with bravery, adding that the entire nation was facing the menace of terrorism together.
The police collected empty shells and the explosive material used in the attack from the scene for a forensic examination.
According to the initial investigation report, the terrorists waited in three directions for the police team to arrive at the scene to ambush them using sniper weapons.
The police station that attacked is present on the outskirts of Peshawar and located near the Bara area of Khyber tribal district, bordering Afghanistan.
The SSP operations Peshawar maintained that the attackers had arrived from the Khyber tribal district.
The funeral prayers for the three policemen were offered at the Malik Saad Shaheed Police Line in Peshawar in the morning.
Government, police and army high-ups participated in the funeral prayers including Governor Haji Ghulam Ali, Chief Secretary Shahzad Bangash, IGP, Frontier Corps IG, Peshawar capital city police officer, CTD DIG and SSP operations Peshawar.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah tweeted that the federal government was “seriously concerned” over the “worsening law and order situation” in K-P.
Pointing out that terrorists were attacking police stations and cops were being targeted, he criticised the K-P government for not learning a lesson from the attack at a CTD centre in Bannu last month where it’s personnel were held hostage by militants.
Sanaullah lashed out at K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan. “All energies of the chief minister are focused on dissolving the assembly,” he added.
He raised the question that when the K-P police were not safe from terrorist attacks, what would be the state of the people’s protection.
The minister paid tribute to the police officials who had lost their lives in the attack and saluted their sacrifices.
The K-P chief minister also condemned the terrorist attack at the Sarband police station and termed it a tragic incident.
In a statement, CM Mahmood said “the sacrifice of the martyrs will not go in vain”, adding that the police fought back with bravery and repulsed the attack.
He further said the whole nation was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the police in the war against terrorism.
He prayed for the eternal peace of the martyrs and expressed his heartiest sympathies and condolences with the bereaved families.
Mahmood also asked the IGP for a report on the incident.
The banned TTP claimed responsibility for the attack.
Also on Saturday, six militants riding two motorcycles attacked a checkpoint in the Jhangi area of Vehowa tehsil in Taunsa Sharif district claiming the lives of a policeman and a passer-by.
The martyrs were identified as Head Constable Mazhar Khan Qaisarani and a private cook named Abdul Basit.
Another policeman, Mohammad Ramzan Khan, also suffered extensive injuries in the attack.
The attackers also took away the official weapons of the two cops.
Punjab police chief Aamir Zulfiqar Khan and Additional IGP (AIGP) South Punjab Sahabzada Shahzad Sultan took strict notice of the incident.
Syed Khurram Ali, the regional police officer (RPO) of Dera Ghazi Khan, reached the scene accompanied by a heavy contingent of police to investigate the attack on the instructions of the IGP.
In fact, the IGP himself urgently reached Dera Ghazi Khan and participated in the funeral prayers held for the martyrs.
The residents told the media that militants, who were hiding in Afghanistan for the last several years, again wanted to take over control of their area.
Sources said the divisional intelligence committee for maintaining peace and order in the area had met a couple of days ago and taken notice of the increased militant activity there, especially in the wake of the return of the militants from Afghanistan.
It had even sent its report to the Punjab home department but no steps were taken to provide foolproof security to the area's checkpoints as well as the vehicles of the border forces.
When contacted, the Dera Ghazi Khan RPO told The Express Tribune that the IGP had formed a team comprising Additional IG Chaudhry Mohammad Saleem and the Rajanpur district police officer to submit a report to him about all aspects of the attack within three days, including its inquiry as well as those responsible for negligence.
The TTP has claimed responsibility for this attack as well.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ