Possible militant attacks: Army deployed on Kohat Road in Badhaber

Locals say entire area under militants’ control who reign fearlessly after dark.

PESHAWAR: A contingent of the Pakistan Army has been deployed along Kohat Road in Badhaber to ward off any militant attack, police officials shared on Sunday.

The deployment was made after an attack last month on a police vehicle which killed five policemen and two passersby.

Police officials said troops had been deployed in the area in two groups to repel any attack on police and civilian vehicles in the locality. They said the army had already been deployed along Kohat Road in the jurisdiction of Mattani police station following several deadly ambushes on convoys of security forces.

A local elder told The Express Tribune the entire locality was virtually under the control of militants as they frequently patrol the area in large groups after dark.

“There has been an unprecedented rise in militancy in the area. Things were not this bad even in 2009 when militant attacks against the police were occurring almost daily,” he said. The road was now safe but the area alongside remains under the control of militants; something yet to be a matter of concern for official quarters, added the elder.

On the night of April 21, a police van was attacked on Kohat Road after which the wounded officials called for backup. The rescue party, headed by an ASI, reached their injured comrades and began shifting them in a private vehicle. Once they were en route to a hospital, militants ambushed them again, killing five policemen and two bystanders.

Meanwhile, security forces deployed along Kohat Road in Sara Khawara, Mattani have enhanced security arrangements at their posts, including the placement of containers around their check post.

Police officials said they had increased patrolling in the night and placed containers around their posts too.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2014.