Security officials walk past a bullet-riddled security checkpoint following an overnight attack by armed militants at Jina Kor, 40 kilometres southeast of Peshawar, on July 3, 2013. PHOTO: AFP
Six security personnel were killed and seven injured in a militant attack on a security check post in Frontier Region (FR) Peshawar late Tuesday night.
Dozens of heavily-armed militants attacked the check post jointly manned by the Frontier Constabulary and police around 12am. After over three hours of fierce fighting, the attackers overran the post located near the Shamshato area.
Six FC personnel were reported killed and seven others, including three Khasadar and a policeman, were wounded in the clash. The militants set the check post on fire before retreating to the Koi Hassan Khel area, where they have reportedly set up their bases.
“The security personnel manning the post were outnumbered by the attackers,” a police official told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity. He added that the security personnel were also short of ammunition and heavy weapons and hence could not stave off the attack.
Reinforcements arrived late due to fears of a militant ambush, allowing the attackers enough time to burn down the base.
“When we reached the post early in the morning (on Wednesday), we recovered six bodies, two of them were charred and another two were headless, suggesting that they were beheaded,” the official said.
While there were reports that the militants had taken the survivors of the attack hostage, according to the official they, along with the seven injured, were found hiding in the bushes.
FR Peshawar has been in the limelight since December 2012 when militants kidnapped and executed 23 levies personnel in Hassan Khel. Since then, militants have established several bases in and around FR Peshawar, especially after the army withdrew from the area following the May 11 elections.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack. “We claim credit for the attack on the check post,” TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told The Express Tribune by phone from an undisclosed location.
He announced an increase in the frequency of attacks on security forces to ‘avenge’ the killing of TTP deputy chief, Waliur Rehman, in a US drone attack in May, this year. “We will keep targeting the security forces to take revenge,” Ehsan added.
He blamed the PML-N government for its lack of seriousness to the TTP talks offer. “The political government has yet to demonstrate its power to take bold and independent decisions,” Ehsan said.
He said the Taliban would respond positively when they felt that the government was taking serious steps for peace talks. “We have not only learnt militancy but we also know how to sit on the negotiating table and talk,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 4th, 2013.
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No imran khan, no Nawaz sharif, and no one else can solve this problem because none of them is accepting the ground realities. The nation, specially KPK, is at the mercy of a beast called ehsanullah ehsan. We have lessons to learn from Egypt. Remember no constitution, no democracy, no elections, no mandates and no state is more sacred than the lives and well being of its citizens. When will we realize that the state is for me and i,ll only serve it when it ensures my safety and my rights, otherwise the question is open.