In a targeted act of terrorism, the leader of a local peace committee and two of his companions were shot dead on Sunday in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's Lakki Marwat district, police confirmed.
Ghulam Dastagir, known locally as Fauji and head of the Shahab Khel peace committee, was en route to the Qabol Khel area when gunmen ambushed his vehicle in the Kara Wanda region. His companions, Saleem Khan and Salahuddin, were also killed on the spot.
Soon after the incident, security forces launched a search operation in the surrounding area to apprehend the attackers and prevent further violence.
The targeted killing comes as a continuation of rising militant activity in Lakki Marwat, where peace committee members, tasked with supporting local law enforcement and resisting terrorist influence, have increasingly come under attack.
This is not the first time peace committee officials have been targeted in KP. In April alone, two deadly attacks occurred against these groups, one of which took place in Lakki Marwat.
On April 29, members of a local peace committee were involved in a fierce gun battle with suspected terrorists in the Begukhel area after the assailants allegedly killed an elderly man and injured his relatives.
Earlier, on April 26, a powerful explosion ripped through a peace committee office in South Waziristan, killing at least seven people and injuring 16 others. The blast was widely condemned as yet another attempt to destabilise efforts for community-based security.
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