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LANDI KOTAL (Khyber Agency) Aug 18: At least three persons were killed and another four injured in two separate incidents of firing in Khyber Agency in the past 48 hours.
The first incident occurred in the Arjali Khwar area of Shalobar in Bara tehsil where unidentified armed men forcibly entered the home of Folad Khan and killed his widow and her nephew Israel Khan as they were preparing to take their evening meal.
Sidra, the 5-year-old granddaughter of Folad Khan, and a young relative Naheed Shah received bullet injuries when the intruders burst into the room with a volley of gunfire. The injured were taken to a hospital in Peshawar.
Sources in Bara said that Folad Shah was slain by some unidentified men a year ago.
In another incident, a teenage boy shot dead his rival and injured two passers-by in Loa Shalman area.
The teenager managed to escape after the shooting. The injured persons were identified as Bakhtawar Shah and Nazir Muhammad.
The names of the victim and the killer, however, could not be ascertained.
TAXI-STANDS REMOVED: Authorities have cleared Landi Kotal bazaar of all illegal taxi stands in a clean-up operation.
The action was taken in response to the rush-hour congestion around the bazaar, which has made commuting to and from the area increasingly difficult.
Officials said the parking stands illegally created by cab drivers had been a major source of congestion. They said that private vehicle owners had to endure many problems as a result. The taxi stands had been located at Shalman Adda, Shinwari Adda and Patlai Chowk.
Reacting to the complaints of the area’s residents, the assistant political agent ordered the removal of all taxi stands from the bazaar premises.
While taxi drivers expressed dissatisfaction with the administration’s decision, commuters and representatives of various social and political groups hailed the move to ease congestion.
The administration in the meantime also diverted all heavy traffic from the bazaar to the Sajamala bypass en route to Torkham from Peshawar.
