IED attack: Two tribal elders, child die in Bajaur blast

The Islamic State claims responsibility for the attack

SHABQADAR/ ISLAMABAD: Two tribal elders and a child were killed in a roadside blast in the Arang area of Bajaur Agency’s Utmankhel subdivision early Saturday morning. Two minors also sustained injuries in the attack whose responsibility was later claimed by the ultra-orthodox Islamic State group or Da’ish.

"Fazal Karim and Dawa Khan, both notables, were travelling when their car hit an improvised explosive device (IED) planted along the road. As a result of the huge explosion, which completely destroyed the car, both the tribal elder were killed," said a political administration’s official.

He said a child, identified as Sahil Khan, also died due to impact of the blast while two more children, Ihtisham and Hussain, got injured and were later shifted to the Khar’s agency headquarters hospital for treatment.

Following the attack, the security force threw a cordon round the area and mounted a search operation.  Khar’s Assistant Political Agency (APA) Suhail Ahmad Khan and other officials also visited the area and the victims’ families.

Utmankhel is considered one of the safest subdivisions in Bajaur Agency and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). The subdivision had never witnessed such an attack in the past, in spite of the rampant militancy in the other parts of the agency and tribal region, where attacks on pro-government tribal elders, peace militia volunteers, personnel of security forces and political administration have been common since 2007.

Hundreds of tribal elders have so far been killed in these attacks, in Bajaur Agency and other parts of Fata.

Dai’sh claims responsibility

Meanwhile, the Islamic State or Dai’sh on Saturday claimed responsibility for attack. “The ‘Khelafat-e-Islamia’ claims responsibility for the mine blast that killed Malik Dawa Khan in Bajaur’s Ghazi Baba area,” Dai’sh’s spokesman for Khorasan region, Shahidullah Shahid, told The Express Tribune via phone from Afghanistan.

When asked as to why the Dai’sh uses Shahidullah Shahid’s name even after confirmation of his death in a US drone strike in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province last month, he said the group will use this name for all its spokesman. He also claimed responsibility for a recent attack on security forces in Bajaur.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23^rd, 2015.