Targeting jirga: Top administrator killed in Waziristan attack

Assistant Political Agent Jamal Azmat was presiding over a jirga when gunmen mounted the attack.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN:

A top government administrator was killed in a gun and grenade attack on a jirga (tribal assembly) in the North Waziristan tribal region on Tuesday.

Jamal Azmat, the assistant political agent for Mir Ali Tehsil, and two tribesmen were killed when unidentified men lobbed a hand grenade and then opened fire on the jirga of local Wazir and Dawar tribesmen. A government official said the jirga was convened to discuss development work in Mir Ali.

A senior security official confirmed Azmat’s death. “He died of three gunshot wounds on the spot,” the official told The Express Tribune but refused to give details. Another official said the identities of the other two victims have not been determined yet as the bodies were mutilated by the grenade explosion.

Security forces cordoned off the area and mounted a manhunt for the attacker who, they believe, has taken refuge nearby.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Barrister Masood Kausar condemned the incident, saying that such attacks undermined the government’s efforts to eradicate militancy. He announced Rs5 million as compensation for APA Azmat’s family. The governor said he would also recommend the slain administrator’s name for the Tamgha-e-Shujaat award.

APA Azmat’s body was airlifted to the Combined Military Hospital in Bannu. He belonged to the Khattak tribe of Karak and had also served as assistant political agent of Laddah in South Waziristan Agency.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2012.