North Waziristan: Two Frontier Corps officials kidnapped

NA-40 candidate’s election office blown up.

MIRANSHAH:

Two officials of the Frontier Corps (FC) were kidnapped from their check post in Datta Khel tehsil, North Waziristan Agency by suspected militants on Friday night.

An official of the agency’s security forces said unidentified persons kidnapped two FC officials from Wacha Bibi check post near the Pak-Afghan border. He added the officials, whose names could not be ascertained, were on duty when they were overpowered and whisked away in a vehicle. Both FC and security force personnel were searching for the abducted men till this report was filed.

On December 7, 2012, two FC personnel identified as Adil Hussain and Niaz Ali were allegedly kidnapped by unidentified militants in Ghulam Khan tehsil. Their bullet-riddled bodies were later discovered by a roadside.

Election office targeted

Unidentified militants blew up another election office of an independent candidate in Miranshah Bazaar on Saturday.

A political administration official said a ‘huge explosion’ was heard at approximately 4am, following which security officials rushed to the site. They found the election office of Aqal Zaman (a candidate contesting from NA-40) destroyed after militants planted and detonated explosives near it.

No loss of life was reported because no one was present in the office at the time, said the official.

Zaman maintained he had not received any threats and was just working on his election campaign like other candidates contesting from the agency.

On April 13, unidentified militants blew up the election office of former parliamentarian Malik Kamran in Miranshah Bazaar. No militant group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2013.