SWAT, Sept 22: A policeman was killed when armed supporters of controversial cleric Maulana Fazalullah attacked the Totano Bandi police post in the Kabal area on Saturday morning. The assailants also kidnapped two policemen.
The attack followed an announcement made on Friday evening by the cleric over an FM radio station that he was terminating a peace deal with the government. He had urged his supporters to proceed to targets assigned to them if his supporters were not released immediately. The cleric’s three top aides had been arrested after an explosion in the Charbagh area on Thursday. He had reportedly said that they had given a number of deadlines to the administration to release the detained men, but it was compelling people to take up arms and challenge security forces.
Sources said armed supporters of Maulana Fazalullah had started mobilising in villages and towns of Swat district after the scrapping of the peace deal.
On Saturday morning, local people said, the armed men stormed the police post in the Kabal tehsil and captured Havaldar Gul Mohammad and Constable Amjad Ali. Havaldar Mian Bahadar was shot dead when he offered resistance.
The assailants also took away two rifles, three Kalashnikovs, hundreds of live rounds, wireless sets and other things from the police post.
The sources said Maulana Fazalullah had warned that attacks on security forces and government installations would continue till his supporters arrested over the past few months were freed.
District police officer Mohammad Iqbal Khan told Dawn that the detained supporters of Maulana Fazalullah would be dealt with in accordance with the law. He said the district police had sought manpower and weapons from the provincial government to cope with the deteriorating law and order situation in Swat.
He said the morale of police was high and they were ready to face the situation. Contrary to his claims, police have vacated small posts in the district and remained confined to police stations. Some policemen have reportedly deserted the force.
Local people said police were not willing to go to crime sites and had stopped patrolling roads. Throughout the day, policemen could not be seen in any market or on roads. In some areas, armed supporters of the cleric were seen roaming around.
