Targeted attacks: Two policemen gunned down, one found dead

Body of a constable, who had been missing for over a month, discovered in North Waziristan.

SWABI/ BANNU:

Two police constables were shot dead in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday, while the body of a head constable who had been missing since October was found in North Waziristan.

Izhar Khan, an official of Swabi police said traffic constable Husnain Mubarak, a resident of Dobyan, was on duty at Link Road around 3:25pm when two militants on a motorcycle stopped near him and opened fire. The constable died on the spot and the attackers escaped.

Officer Khan said it was a crowded place, which facilitated the escape. Mubarak’s body was taken to the nearby District Headquarters Hospital. A search operation was launched by the police; no arrest was made, but a case was filed.

Bannu

Meanwhile, another police constable was killed by unidentified militants while he was coming back home from duty in Bandar Kalan, Bannu on Sunday.

Township police official Afsar Ali Khan said the incident occurred at around 7am. Ashraf Khan was deployed at Khalifa Gul Nawaz Medical Complex.  After he had finished his duty at the hospital, he was on his way home when unidentified militants intercepted him in Bandar Kalan. They opened fire at him and killed him on the spot, escaping with his rifle.

Afsar said heavy contingents of police rushed to the scene after the incident, surrounded the area and launched a search operation but nobody was arrested. The official added the body was taken to a hospital for autopsy, after which he was buried in his hometown. A case was filed against unidentified militants.

Missing official found dead

In another incident, a police constable, who had allegedly been kidnapped by militants on October 22 while on his way to work, was found dead in Mirali, North Waziristan Agency on Sunday morning.

An official of Cantonment police, Iftikhar Ali Shah said Head Constable Anjum Saeed, a resident of Kot Saadat, was appointed at Officer Colony check post in Bannu. Saeed left home for duty on October 22 but never reached his check post, nor did he return home. The police assumed he had been kidnapped.

On Sunday morning, the political administration of North Waziristan said they had found the body of the constable by a roadside in Karam Kot, Mirali. Saeed had been shot and left there by his kidnappers.

The official said the body had been shifted to the police station, after which it was handed over to relatives. He mentioned a previous incident where Saeed had been kidnapped by armed men around six months ago but then released.

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