Restive frontiers: Five NGO workers abducted from Tank

Two killed, five others injured in roadside blast in Khyber Agency.

PESHAWAR:

Five workers of a non-governmental organisation (NGO) were kidnapped from the Maghzai village, when they were visiting the area in connection with development projects under way in the area, officials said.

The five men were travelling to the Frontier Region Tank, close to the tribal area of South Waziristan, when gunmen intercepted their vehicle in the Maghzai village. The men, who were working in the area under the governors development programme, were on a visit to the site, revealed an official. The district coordination officer confirmed the incident.

Agency Development Officer Badshah Hazrat, Site Engineer Zeb Nawaz, Assistant Field Officer Noor Muhammad, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer Javed Iqbal and their driver Akbar Zaman were amongst those that went missing.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility or demand for ransom from any group. However, officials speculated that militant factions present in the area could be behind the abductions.

Blast in Bara

At least two women were killed and five injured in a roadside blast in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency.

Three of the injured in the roadside blast were said to be children. Official sources said the blast took place in the Qambar Abad area and targeted a pick-up vehicle, carrying locals returning from a funeral in a nearby village.

One of the dead was identified as Farhada, while the injured were identified as Bilal, Irfan and Hina. The injured were immediately shifted to the Hayatabad Medical Complex.

Separately, six members of a family were injured when a stray mortar shell landed on a house in the Sturi Khel area of Bara.

School blast in Charsadda

Meanwhile, a state-run primary school in the Shabqadar area of Charsadda district was blown up by militants in the early hours of Wednesday.

The school was located in Dallazak village, some five kilometres from the tehsil headquarters.

The school building was razed to the ground when the bomb planted near the outer wall exploded at around 2:00 am, SHO Gulshed Khan told The Express Tribune. No casualties were reported and the police have registered a case.

Shabqadar, which borders Mohmand Agency, has seen a surge in attacks on state-run schools in recent months. Ten schools have been destroyed in the area so far, with the majority of them in 2012.

Meanwhile, security forces managed to defuse three Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s) in Dawezai, Mohmand Agency that were planted on a roadside to target vehicles.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2012.