Brazen assaults: One killed, seven injured in separate militant onslaughts

Check post attacked in Mattani, police van ambushed on Kohat Road.

HANGU/ PESHAWAR:

A 15-year-old boy was killed while four members of the same family were injured when a mortar shell landed inside a house during a firefight between police and militants in Hameed Machine area of Mattani early Saturday morning.

Militants attacked a police check post near the border of Frontier Region (FR) Peshawar on the outskirts of the city at around 2am, resulting in a brief exchange of fire between the two sides. The firefight lasted for around 20 minutes after which the militants fled towards FR Peshawar.

During the gunfight, a mortar shell landed inside a house owned by Syed Ahmad. The mortar exploded inside Ahmad’s residence, killing his 15-year-old grandson Zahid Nabi. Four other members of his family were injured and rushed to Lady Reading Hospital (LRH).

Meanwhile, three people including two policemen were injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire at a police mobile on Kohat Road near Badhaber on Friday night.

Police had been deployed along Kohat Road to protect ambulances transporting those injured in the suicide attacks in Parachinar on Friday evening to hospitals in Peshawar. Head constable Kazim and constable Hamadan were injured along with a truck driver when the gunmen opened indiscriminate fire. The injured were rushed to LRH where they were said to be out of danger.

Police launched a large- scale search operation in the area soon after the attack but the perpetrators managed to escape, taking advantage of the darkness. The militants wanted to attack vehicles carrying victims of the Parachinar blasts but were unable to do so due to the presence of police personnel.

FC vehicle attacked

Five Frontier Constabulary (FC) officials and a minor boy were injured in a roadside blast in Doaba, Hangu on Saturday evening.

District police officer (DPO) Sajad Khan told journalists a remote-controlled device was strapped on to a motorcycle parked along the road. The device was detonated as a FC vehicle on its way from Tal to Daoba passed through at around 4pm, he added.

The injured security personnel have been identified as Ameer Muhammad, Muhammad Sherpao, Muhammad Ismail, Jamauldin, Waliur Rehman and five-year old passer-by Faheem. They were rushed to Combined Military Hospital and DHQ Hospital where the condition of all the injured was said to be stable.

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