Targeted attack?: Brother of peace militia leader shot dead
At least 15 people from Adezai village have been killed in a similar manner by militants over the past five years.
“The attacker was a teenage boy who used a TT pistol. This might be the third incident involving the same hit-man,” says a leader of Adezai Peace Militia. PHOTO: FILE
PESHAWAR:
Faiz Muhammad Khan, a community police constable and brother of Adezai Aman Lashker’s leader Waqif Khan, was gunned down in the crowded Mattani market on Sunday afternoon in what appeared to be a targeted attack.
Deployed in Adezai village, Faiz had come to shop at the market when he was targeted by a young man armed with a pistol. The attacker took advantage of the ensuing panic and escaped.
“The attacker was a teenage boy who used a TT pistol. This might be the third incident involving the same hit-man,” said Farman Khan, another leader of the Adezai Peace Militia.
According to Farman, at least 15 people from Adezai village have been killed in a similar manner by militants over the past five years.
“Their first target was my brother, Abdul Manan, who was killed in Karachi,” he claimed. Militants are still very active in the area despite brief intervals of calm, Farman added.
Faiz’s brother Waqif is the district general secretary of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. Waqif is considered to be an important leader of the Adezai Aman Lashker and lost another brother, Mirbaz Khan, in a suicide bomb blast in March 2010 which killed 43 people and injured more than 50 others.
In a separate incident in Masho Khel, a government high school for boys was destroyed in a powerful explosion which also partially damaged an adjacent house late Saturday night.
Heavily armed militants entered the school which had been damaged in a blast a month ago, forced the watchman out of its premises, and detonated a homemade bomb inside the building.
The powerful explosion rendered the school unusable as three rooms and a verandah collapsed. Noor Rehman’s house was also damaged.
“They took the watchman, Syed Jamal, hostage and severely tortured him before planting a powerful bomb in the building,” said a local resident who wished to remain anonymous.
“The explosion occurred around midnight, but the police reached the scene the following morning. They inspected the site and arrested the watchman,” he added. The local maintained the watchman was later released following the intervention of elders and MPA Saqib Khan Chamkani.
Militants have previously attacked primary schools in Masho Khel and nearly all girls schools in surrounding villages have been bombed in the past five years.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 18th, 2013.
Faiz Muhammad Khan, a community police constable and brother of Adezai Aman Lashker’s leader Waqif Khan, was gunned down in the crowded Mattani market on Sunday afternoon in what appeared to be a targeted attack.
Deployed in Adezai village, Faiz had come to shop at the market when he was targeted by a young man armed with a pistol. The attacker took advantage of the ensuing panic and escaped.
“The attacker was a teenage boy who used a TT pistol. This might be the third incident involving the same hit-man,” said Farman Khan, another leader of the Adezai Peace Militia.
According to Farman, at least 15 people from Adezai village have been killed in a similar manner by militants over the past five years.
“Their first target was my brother, Abdul Manan, who was killed in Karachi,” he claimed. Militants are still very active in the area despite brief intervals of calm, Farman added.
Faiz’s brother Waqif is the district general secretary of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. Waqif is considered to be an important leader of the Adezai Aman Lashker and lost another brother, Mirbaz Khan, in a suicide bomb blast in March 2010 which killed 43 people and injured more than 50 others.
In a separate incident in Masho Khel, a government high school for boys was destroyed in a powerful explosion which also partially damaged an adjacent house late Saturday night.
Heavily armed militants entered the school which had been damaged in a blast a month ago, forced the watchman out of its premises, and detonated a homemade bomb inside the building.
The powerful explosion rendered the school unusable as three rooms and a verandah collapsed. Noor Rehman’s house was also damaged.
“They took the watchman, Syed Jamal, hostage and severely tortured him before planting a powerful bomb in the building,” said a local resident who wished to remain anonymous.
“The explosion occurred around midnight, but the police reached the scene the following morning. They inspected the site and arrested the watchman,” he added. The local maintained the watchman was later released following the intervention of elders and MPA Saqib Khan Chamkani.
Militants have previously attacked primary schools in Masho Khel and nearly all girls schools in surrounding villages have been bombed in the past five years.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 18th, 2013.