October 27, 2008	Monday	Shawwal 27, 1429

LANDI KOTAL, Oct 26: A local tribal and religious leader was killed and three of his companions sustained injuries when his car was ambushed in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency on Sunday.

Sources said that Maulana Juma Gul along with his two grandsons and a body guard was on his way to Jamrud bazaar from his residence when unidentified gunmen ambushed his vehicle at Malik Shaga near Ghundi area.

The attackers sprayed his vehicle with bullets which resulted in killing of Maulana Juma Gul on the spot while his grandsons and body guard sustained injuries.

Family sources of the deceased said that they had registered a case with Jamrud political authorities. Nobody has so far claimed irresponsibility for the incident.

Meanwhile, Lashkar-i-Islam chief Mangal Bagh called a meeting of schoolteachers in Bara on Monday and inquired from them as to why they closed their schools on Saturday. No further details of the meeting could be ascertained. Mangal Bagh had announced on Friday through his FM radio that a student protest rally would be organised in Bara on Saturday against what he called official excesses against his organisation.

Khyber Agency political administration announced holiday of all schools on Saturday for an indefinite period to avert any untoward situation. But later the decision was reversed and schools were allowed to reopen on Monday after an assurance by a jirga of Bara elders that no protest of students would be organised. —Correspondent