Militant attack: Peshawar checkpost overrun, set ablaze

At least 30 police and frontier constabulary personnel man the post which was set ablaze after militant attack.

PESHAWAR: Militants overran an isolated security checkpost before setting it on fire in Zakhel area in the jurisdiction of Matani police station on the outskirt of the city on Friday night.

The checkpost had been established to protect a small dam in the area and is jointly manned by Frontier Constabulary (FC) and police. It was attacked around at 11 pm in the night and the skirmishes between the militants and the police continued till 1 am on Saturday.

The check post is usually manned by around 30 men.

“The checkpost has been set on fire by the militant but we believe that most of the policemen and FC personnel had vacated it [by then],” said a Matani police station official. He added that a large contingent of police has been dispatched to the area and one of their armoured cars had been hit by an RPG-7 rocket.

“These militants are armed with RPGs and machine guns and they have used it against the police,” the official said, adding that the fate of the 30 men deployed there was not clear.

“So far we are unable to contact them on wireless or phone but there are other bunkers around the dam and we hope that they have taken shelter there,” he said.

Locals told The Express Tribune that militants surrounded the check post from at least three directions and pounded it with rockets. They added that the check post was in flames and police reinforcement had reached the area but situation was difficult to understand as it was pitch dark outside.