Audacious assault: Four constables injured in pre-dawn attack at police post

Denying militants’ involvement, DPO claims local criminal gangs responsible.

TORGHAR:

Alleged militants laid siege to a police check post in Torghar district, Hazara division early Monday morning. Four policemen were injured in the attack while the accused decamped with official weapons and other equipment.

DPO Iftikharuddin Khan told The Express Tribune over a dozen police constables were on duty at Mangrai check post, around 25 kilometres from district headquarters Judba. At 3:30am, 10 to 15 armed persons stormed the post while the constables were asleep.

“Some of the policemen abandoned the post after seeing the armed men – only four stayed back,” he said.

The attackers blew up the check post, injuring four policemen identified as Shireen Badshah, Mahsam Khan, Muhammad Ismail and Gul Amin. The perpetrators later made off with rifles and bullet-proof jackets belonging to the police, said Iftikharuddin.

Responding to a query, the police chief ruled out the involvement of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or any other militant organisation, saying the method used was different from their modus operandi. He claimed the route is notorious for timber smuggling and the Mangrai post was recently erected to check the movement of criminals in the area. He suspected local gangs were involved in the attack.

The ordeal

However, injured constable Gul Amin said, over 40 Taliban militants first hurled a grenade at the post, causing most of the constables to flee. As the remaining officials prepared to retaliate, another grenade was thrown inside the post, leaving him and three others injured and unconscious, shared Amin.

“After the explosions, the militants got hold of us and attempted to amputate our right hands before leaving the post with our weapons and bullets,” he said. The attackers were unable to completely sever their hands but succeeded in injuring them severely, added the constable.

“The militants wanted to maim us so we would be unable to raise our weapons in a fight against them.” When Amin regained consciousness, he was at a hospital in Battagram.

The wounded constables are presently under treatment at Ayub Medical Complex, Abbottabad. Doctors say their injuries are so severe, their hands will eventually have to be amputated.

This is the second attack that Amin has survived in the four years of his police service. On September 1, 2011, the constable was injured when militants attacked a police vehicle transporting recruits to Abbottabad. Four recruits were killed and 15 injured in the remote-controlled improvised explosive device (IED) explosion near Perkhoona village on Oghi road, Torghar.

According to the DPO, a criminal case has been registered against unidentified attackers under Section 324 of the Pakistan Penal Code, Section 3/4 of the Explosives Act and Section 6/7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Meanwhile, four people were injured in a blast in Peshawar on Sunday night near an under-construction police post on Ring Road. The Bhanamari police said the blast took place near the Ghazi Baba police post.

Last Saturday, a military truck leading a convoy on Karakoram Highway near Khanpur village, Mansehra was hit by an IED hidden under sacks of manure. At least three army personnel were injured while the truck was damaged. When rescue workers, police officials and journalists reached the spot, a second explosion occurred an hour later, killing one passer-by and injuring four others, including media personnel.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 17^th, 2014.