In cold blood: DSP traffic, guard killed in Saeedabad

Attack at a mosque early Monday morning targets prayer leader.

PESHAWAR:

DSP Traffic Amanullah and his gunman constable Amjad Khan were killed on their way to office on Dalazak Road, Saeedabad early Monday morning.

The area falls under the jurisdiction of Faqirabad police station.

Unidentified armed men on a motorcycle opened fire at the DSP’s vehicle, severely injuring him and his gunman. They were rushed to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) where both men died.

The attackers managed to escape after the incident. Police, however, launched a search operation in the area and arrested several suspects.

Funeral prayers for the DSP and his gunman were offered at Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines at 11:30am. A guard of honour was presented for the slain officials.

The bodies were later wrapped in the national flag and sent to their respective ancestral towns for burial.

DSP Amanullah joined the police service on 22 September, 1971, while his gunman was recruited in 1998.

In this year alone, around 22 policemen have been killed in similar attacks, including one DSP and two inspectors.

One dead in Mosque attack

Fazal-e-Hadi was killed in bomb blast at a mosque in Garngi Payan village in the jurisdiction of Mathra police station.

Police said around 3:30 am on Monday unidentified men opened fire at the prayer leader of the mosque Muhammad Bilal, leaving him critically injured. Police added the prayer leader was attacked when he refused to dig up two graves which lie in the premises of the mosque.

After hearing the shots, neighbours rushed to the mosque where they found a box. A man named Fazal-e-Hadi took the box and was inspecting it when it exploded, killing him on the spot.

“This was some sort of sectarianism and we are investigating it,” said an official of the local police station, adding that around one kilogramme of explosives were used in the blast.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2013.