In cold blood: Spectator gunned down at cricket ground

Witnesses says the assailants looked at Nawaz’s identity card before shooting him.

JAMRUD: A 28-year-old man was gunned down by unidentified militants in Shahkas, tehsil Jamrud of Khyber Agency on Wednesday.

Haji Khandad Afridi, an official of the khasadar force, said two armed men riding a motorcycle stopped near the young man identified as Nawaz Afridi and opened fire at him, killing him on the spot.

An eyewitness, Islam Noor who was also injured in the incident, revealed he and Nawaz were watching a cricket match when two masked men entered the ground and started checking the identity cards of all the tribesmen at the ground at gunpoint.

Noor said the gunmen approached Nawaz and opened fire at him after taking one look at his identity card. Everyone started running to their houses in panic, while the attackers escaped on their motorcycle, he added.



The khasadar official reached the site and rushed Noor and Nawaz to Civil Hospital Jamrud where doctors declared Nawaz dead.

The deceased was reportedly working in Afghanistan. Another eyewitness, Gulab Khan, said, “Despite the political administration’s ban on travelling on motorcycles in Jamrud, the militants were on a motorbike and no one stopped them.”



An official of the political administration Asmatullah Wazir said they launched a search operation in the area and arrested 30 motorcyclists for violating the administration’s orders.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th, 2013.