Law and order: DI Khan prison break fugitive among 67 arrested

Bomb near school in Matta, Swat neutralised.

HANGU/ CHARSADDA/ DI KHAN/ MATTA:

Police have arrested 67 people, including an inmate who had escaped from prison in 2013, during search operations in DI Khan on Tuesday.

A police official told The Express Tribune Ghulam Subhani, a resident of Jhoke Muhana Musa town, escaped from Central Prison DI Khan in June 2013 when Tehreek-e-Taliban insurgents laid seige on the facility. Following a gunbattle with security forces, insurgents helped 230 inmates, including suspected militants, escape from the prison. Subhani was arrested in a raid within the limits of Cantt Police Station.



According to an official of Gomel Police Station, 64 suspects have been arrested and shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation. Two Afghan nationals were taken into custody after failing to provide valid documents to the police.

Police raided 50 houses, seven hotels, 22 seminaries and 82 educational institutions. Nearly 68 schools were directed to introduce security measures with immediate effect.

According to a statement issued on Tuesday, DI Khan DPO Sadiq Hussain Baloch has instructed police to carry out search operations to improve the security situation in the city.



Terror averted

Law-enforcement agencies neutralised a bomb planted near a private school in Matta, Swat district.

According to the police, students of Swat Education Academy in Matta tehsil noticed a suspicious-looking bottle near the school gate. They immediately informed the administration. Security officials and the bomb disposal unit reached the site and defused the bomb.

In a separate incident, security forces raided a house in Spin Khawri Chowk, Hangu and found an improvised explosive device (IED) weighing 15 kilogrammes. The device was subsequently neutralised.

According to an official of the security forces, the house belonged to a member of the TTP who escaped before the security forces raided the premises. The official added the IED might have been used to orchestrate an attack in Hangu district had it not been defused in time.

Panic in Sardheri

Havoc ensued after a watchman at Girls Community Primary School, Wardaga opened aerial fire, injuring students. The girls school is located in the jurisdiction of Sardheri police station in Charsadda.

Students and teachers left classrooms in panic when the watchman started shooting at nothing in particular. Several students were injured. Children started crying and some fell unconscious, it was reported.

It was later discovered Humayun, the guard, had fired by mistake as he was not trained in operating arms.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2015.