Rockets fired on FC base in Swat; six soldiers injured
By Hameedullah Khan
SWAT, Oct 2: Six army soldiers were injured when the regional headquarters of the Frontier Constabulary located near the naval recruitment centre came under a rocket and mortar attack on Monday night.
Officials said the attack was followed by heavy machinegun fire on the FC base which continued for about three hours, slightly injuring the six soldiers. The soldiers had been moved to the FC headquarters in July after a suicide attack on an army convoy in Matta.
Local people said security personnel fired back on the assailants and the area reverberated with rocket explosions and gunfire.
Some marble factories near the FC headquarters and windowpanes of nearby houses were also damaged.
A constable was injured when an explosive device went off near the Kalam police station, damaging the boundary wall of the police station.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the controversial cleric, Maulana Fazalullah, denied involvement in recent attacks and bomb blasts in Swat.
“Our movement and activists are peaceful and they have no role in the violent and terrorist attacks in the district,” the spokesman, Mr Sirajuddin, told Dawn.
He said it was surprising that the FC headquarters, where thousands of military and paramilitary forces were stationed, was under attack for three hours but no soldier was killed.
He alleged that the security forces had staged the attack to malign the peaceful movement launched by Maulana Fazalullah and his workers for enforcement of Sharia in the district.
“We do not believe in intimidating, harming or killing Muslims, and this is against the teachings of Islam,” Mr Sirajuddin said.
He said the Lal Masjid operation had caused hatred among people against the army and the law and order situation would worsen if movement of troops in the area continued. Peace, he said, would be restored if the military and other security forces withdrew from the valley.
“We do not want army’s deployment here. Before deployment no violent incident had taken place in Swat. Peace will prove elusive as long as army is stationed here.”
He said the mission of enforcing Sharia in Malakand would be accomplished at all costs. “It (Malakand) would be presented as a model of Islamic system for the rest of the country.”
