Brazen attack: Militants kidnap 4 officers of Peshawar grid station, kill 7 others
Attackers fired around 15 rockets at the station before entering it to plant bombs.
Militants attacked the Sheikh Muhammadi grid station on the outskirt of Peshawar. PHOTO: MUHAMMAD IQBAL/ EXPRESS
PESHAWAR:
Militants attacked the Sheikh Muhammadi grid station on the outskirts of Peshawar on Monday night, killing two people at the spot and kidnapping nine others.
Out of the nine people kidnapped, the militants killed three policemen and two security guards on Tuesday while the four others, who were officers at the grid station, remained in their custody. The four officers were SDO Fahim Khan, STO Shoaib Rabbani, SOS Faisal Bari and SSO Zeeshan.
The militants fired at least 15 rockets at the grid station from the Sheikh Muhammadi village. They entered the building, held the staff and police guards hostage and planted several remote-controlled bombs inside the grid station.
The attack damaged the grid station, resulting in disruption of power supply to several parts of the city and areas in the tribal belt.
Due to the powerful explosion, fire erupted inside the grid station engulfing the machinery and transformers. The control room of the grid was completely destroyed.
“I could see the towers and transformers on fire and we have found two bodies so far but it is a vast area and due to darkness we are facing difficulty in searching for dead and injured,” an activist of the Masho Gagar Aman Lashker Mukamal Shah said while talking to The Express Tribune.
He further said that militants fired multiple rockets at the grid from a distance first and then entered it.
The fire fighters reached the area and tried to control the fire but their efforts went in vain.
Police started a search operation around the grid but the militants had escaped by then, an official of the Badabher police station told The Express Tribune. He further said that local people rushed to the site and helped police in the rescue operation.
“Few people are still missing and we are looking for them,” the official said. Boundary wall of the grid station also collapsed and the barbed wires had been found cut, he further added.
“We have found two caps of policemen but they are not there which means that either they have escaped or have been kidnapped by the militants,” he said.
Some of the bombs did not explode and Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) was called in to defuse them.
Militants attacked the Sheikh Muhammadi grid station on the outskirts of Peshawar on Monday night, killing two people at the spot and kidnapping nine others.
Out of the nine people kidnapped, the militants killed three policemen and two security guards on Tuesday while the four others, who were officers at the grid station, remained in their custody. The four officers were SDO Fahim Khan, STO Shoaib Rabbani, SOS Faisal Bari and SSO Zeeshan.
The militants fired at least 15 rockets at the grid station from the Sheikh Muhammadi village. They entered the building, held the staff and police guards hostage and planted several remote-controlled bombs inside the grid station.
The attack damaged the grid station, resulting in disruption of power supply to several parts of the city and areas in the tribal belt.
Due to the powerful explosion, fire erupted inside the grid station engulfing the machinery and transformers. The control room of the grid was completely destroyed.
“I could see the towers and transformers on fire and we have found two bodies so far but it is a vast area and due to darkness we are facing difficulty in searching for dead and injured,” an activist of the Masho Gagar Aman Lashker Mukamal Shah said while talking to The Express Tribune.
He further said that militants fired multiple rockets at the grid from a distance first and then entered it.
The fire fighters reached the area and tried to control the fire but their efforts went in vain.
Police started a search operation around the grid but the militants had escaped by then, an official of the Badabher police station told The Express Tribune. He further said that local people rushed to the site and helped police in the rescue operation.
“Few people are still missing and we are looking for them,” the official said. Boundary wall of the grid station also collapsed and the barbed wires had been found cut, he further added.
“We have found two caps of policemen but they are not there which means that either they have escaped or have been kidnapped by the militants,” he said.
Some of the bombs did not explode and Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) was called in to defuse them.