Provincial unrest: Police attacks claim four lives, injure six others

BANNU/ SHANGLA:

In two separate attacks on security personnel in Shangla and Bannu, four people were killed and six others were injured on Wednesday.

A police official, his driver and a Frontier Constabulary (FC) official were killed when unidentified motorcyclists opened fire at them in Jani Khel area on the outskirts of Bannu.

Three other FC personnel were injured in the incident as well.

DPO Waqar Khan, while talking to journalists, said that Jani Khel police SHO Afeel Khan along with his driver and four FC personnel came out of the police station in his car when two masked men travelling on a motorbike intercepted their vehicle at a bridge and opened fire. Khan along with his driver and the FC personnel died on the spot, while three FC officials sustained injuries.

The DPO added that the bodies were taken to the police station in Jani Khel, an area 15 kilometers north of the city, while the injured were rushed to the District Headquarters Hospital.

DHQ Casualty in-charge, Abdullah, told The Express Tribune that the injured personnel were shifted to the hospital and were identified as Said Muhammad, Shahram Khan and Muhammad Rahman.

Surgeon Dr Mehmood Jan told The Express Tribune that Muhammad was in a critical condition. “I took out the bullets from his body. The gunman used an assault rifle from close range,” Jan said, adding that the two injured personnel were stable as the bullets did not hit them on fatal areas of the body.



Earlier on November 11, a policeman was gunned down when militants opened fire at him at Basya Khel checkpoint on the outskirts of Bannu city. Two militants were killed in retaliation.

Shangla attack 

In another incident, a police official was killed, while three others, including an SHO, were severely injured in a roadside explosion near a police vehicle in Kankar, Shangla district.

According to the DSP of Shangla, the four policemen were on their way to attend a meeting, heading towards Alpurai from Martoong when a bomb exploded near their van .

Initially all four policemen were critically injured but SHO Jahanzeb succumbed to his injuries on the way to hospital. The injured were shifted to Alpoaria and Saidu Sharif hospitals.

Talking to journalists from an undisclosed location, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesperson Ihsanullah Ihsan claimed responsibility for both attacks on the police in Bannu and Shangla.

With additional reporting by
our correspondent in DI KHAN.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2012.