Security measures: Army deployed to support police in Mattani

PESHAWAR:

Following a recent militant attack which killed six security personnel, law enforcement agencies have intensified security in Mattani, while the army has setup checkpoints.

Situated nearly 25 kilometres south of Peshawar, Mattani has become a soft target for militants where incursions from Akka Khel in Bara tehsil and subsequent attacks on check posts have become increasingly frequent.

A search operation was launched in Akka Khel last week to avoid the attacks on the outskirts of Peshawar. Frontier Constabulary was deployed along the Kohat Road in Mattani to help police secure the road from militant attacks.

Two weeks ago, five security personnel, including SP Rural Khurshid Khan, were killed while 10 police and Frontier Constabulary (FC) men were injured when the Taliban attacked two checkpoints of Mattani police station.

Due to the recent upsurge in crime, residents have shifted their families to safer places, mostly to the provincial capital where many people are living with their relatives.

Officials of the security forces say that criminals have joined hands with militants in carrying out these attacks, which target the police. “These people only cross the tribal boundary to attack police checkpoints in settled areas,” an official said.  Security forces further said that check posts have been made to prevent militant infiltration into Peshawar and to keep a watch on the village bordering the tribal belt.

On the other hand, SSP Imran Shahid told The Express Tribune that the army has never been called and there are no army camps. “They may have just been set up for a search operation only,” he added.

Earlier in September, residents of Mattani said that handwritten pamphlets on Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) letterheads had been pasted in the market, threatening people of attacks if they join peace militias.

A total of three major attacks, including a car-bomb blast, and five IED explosions have taken place in Mattani as of late.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2012.