Violence in K-P: Two security personnel killed in roadside blast

SHO, three suspected militants gunned down in crossfire.

SHABQADAR/ LAKKI MARWAT: Two security officials were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in Mohmand Agency on Monday.

The personnel were patrolling a border post near Kabul River late afternoon when the blast occurred, a security official told The Express Tribune. “The injured were rushed to a hospital in Peshawar, but died on the way,” he said.

Meanwhile, tribal leader and member of the Halemzai peace militia Haji Ameer Nawaz Khan narrowly escaped a low intensity blast in Ghallanai, headquarters of Mohmand Agency, said political administration official Shamsul Islam.

“The blast occurred when Nawaz drove past the site in Halemzai tehsil,” he added. Tehreek-e-Tailban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack. The political administration launched a search operation in the area soon after the incident and arrested a suspect under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation.

In a separate attack, Lakki Marwat Station House Officer (SHO) Ismail Khan was killed along with three militants while an official of the Elite Force sustained bullet wounds when assailants opened fire at a police van in Ziaran area on the outskirts of the city.

Ismail was asked to report to Barki Korona area within the jurisdiction of the Ghazni Khel police station where the police were engaged in crossfire with militants. The SHO was later heading back to the police station along with other personnel when militants ambushed his vehicle, said police officials.

Ismail and Elite Force constable Zahid Khan were injured in the attack and rushed to  the hospital, where Ismail succumbed to his injuries. Two suspected militants, Abdul Majeed and Irshadullah, were also killed in the crossfire, while another militant Rizwan was gunned down earlier.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2013.