Two policemen martyred in attack on census team

Two policemen deployed on census duty in Tank and Lakki Marwat districts were martyrdom while five others received injuries in terrorist attacks, police and Rescue-1122 said on Monday.

In Tank’s Kot Azam area, terrorists opened fire at a police van deployed for the security of census staff, martyring constable Khan Nawab and injuring police constables Shah Nawaz and Aslam Khan, Levies official Bismillah, Frontier Constabulary official Abdullah and driver Eid Jan.

The injured were shifted to DHQ hospital while a fresh contingent of police reached the spot, cordoned off the area and began a search operation.

On the other hand, in a similar attack in Lakki Marwat, motorcyclists opened fire at the census team in the limits of Sadar Police Station, martyring an on-duty policeman, constable Dil Jaan.

Read more: TTP militants have K-P police in their crosshairs

The unidentified assailants managed to escape after firing, following which a heavy police contingent rushed to surround the area for a search operation.

The attack comes as terrorism rears its ugly head again in the country with the province witnessing a spate of attacks targeting both security forces and citizens, and the seventh population and housing census of Pakistan kicked off earlier this month, while the self-enumeration portal is currently operative. The process will end on April 1.

The survey’s fieldwork will be conducted by up to 121,000 field enumerators, who will use electronic devices to verify respondents’ information.

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the data collected through this process will be utilised for public policy formulation and constituency delimitation in future general elections.

Notorious militant killed

In a related development, police and security forces in a joint separation have killed a notorious terrorist wanted in 12 cases in the Dera Ismail district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The authorities had earlier put a bounty of Rs6 million on the wanted militant.

Abdul Rasheed, the terrorist who was killed in the operation, was involved in several acts of terrorism against the police and security agencies, officials said.

Rasheed belonged to the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).