Unrestrained violence: Attack on van en route from Parachinar kills one, injures eight

Militants injure SHO in Bannu.

PARACHINAR: While the country witnessed another day of nationwide protests against sectarian killings, an attack on a bus en route to Peshawar from Parachinar killed one person and injured eight others, including a woman.

A political administration official from Lower Kurram told The Express Tribune that an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded in Khar Kallay around 8:30 am, killing passenger Ali Nabi. All the victims were Shia, he confirmed.

Levies shifted the injured to Sadda Headquarters Hospital from where doctors referred them to Thal Combined Military Hospital. A search operation was launched, but there were no immediate arrests.

None of the injured passengers were from Parachinar, but belonged to the city’s outskirts.



In the adjacent Thal area, 34 suspects, including proclaimed offenders, were apprehended after a search operation.

SHO injured in Bannu

SHO Hawai Imam Hassan was severely injured in a clash with militants in Takhti Khel, Bannu on Sunday evening.

DPO Bannu Waqar Ahmad Khan said that he directed the SHO to raid a militant’s house, where the fighting occurred.

Constable Mujeeb Khan said that he along with 10 other policemen raided the house of suspected militant Amin Shah, who opened fire at them and wounded the inspector who was rushed to the Bannu Headquarters Hospital.

Khan added that after the incident security forces rushed to the area and launched an operation. The crackdown had not ended till the filing of this report.

Emergency in-charge at DHQ, Dr Anwar Shah, said the policeman was shot in the arm and above the knee by an assault rifle, adding that he was out of danger now.

Pamphlets threatening shopkeepers downloading ring tones for mobiles were distributed and pasted on the walls in Kakki area, 15 kilometres west of Bannu.

The pamphlets had an insignia of the Taliban threatening shopkeepers and owners to close down their business, but nothing else was mentioned, a shopkeeper from the area told The Express Tribune, adding that the pamphlets were in Urdu.

Officials at the Kakki police station denied any knowledge of the pamphlets. “No one has lodged any complaints,” an official told The Express Tribune. He, however, refused to comment any further.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2013.