Cop shot dead in Battagram

A unidentified man on a motorcycle shot and killed a police constable at a petrol pump in the Battagram area late Friday night.

According to the police, the suspect opened fire on the constable and fled the scene immediately after committing the crime. They added that Constable Ghulam Ishaq, a resident of Pazzang, Allai, was refueling his motorcycle at a petrol pump in the Maidan Battagram area when the suspect, who had been chasing him, opened fire at a close range.

The constable collapsed on the spot and succumbed to his injuries.

Following the incident, a heavy contingent of Battagram police along with a large number of local residents reached the crime scene. The body was shifted to a nearby hospital for post-mortem and later handed over to the victim's family for burial in his native village.

Police have sealed all exit routes and set up checkpoints in a bid to apprehend the accused. According to the FIR lodged by the victim's family, a rival party from the same village was reportedly involved in an ongoing dispute over a girl has been named in the case.