PESHAWAR: Suspected militants kidnapped three relatives of a slain leader of Awami National Party (ANP) from Mashokhel, a suburban area of provincial metropolis, early on Sunday, sources said.

Mian Mushtaq Ahmed, the ANP leader, was shot dead along with his driver and a party worker on January 12 when he was going to Hayatabad from his native village Mashokhel.

Sources said that three cousins of the slain ANP leader were asleep in their hujra when a group of militants armed with sophisticated weapons attacked them. All the three persons identified as Mian Shabeer, Mian Fahad and Mian Shakeel were kidnapped and the hujra was blown up with explosives and hand grenades, they added.

An official of Badhber police station, when contacted, said that incident took place at about 2am. He said that actual number of the attackers could not be ascertained so far. Certainly that they had already besieged the hujra and kidnapped the people without facing any resistance, he added.

Following the bomb blasts, the official said, the residents of the area and police reached the spot but the attackers had already escaped.

He said that the attackers seemed to have crossed into Khyber Agency as Lashkar-i-Islam, a banned militant outfit, was active in there.

The official said that no one had so far claimed responsibility for kidnapping the three persons. He said that a case was registered against unidentified terrorists.

TERRORISM BID: Police foiled an attempt to blow up Safan police post and defused a seven kilograms improvised explosive device (IED) on Sunday. The post is located on Indus Highway in the limits of Badhber police station. Police also claimed to have arrested a terrorist and impounded a motorcar.

Jalaluddin, a police spokesperson, said that two terrorists were planting the IED near the post when a sentry noticed them. One of the terrorists managed to flee while the other was arrested, he added.

The police spokesperson said that the arrested person was identified as Shaoib alias Afsar, a resident of Bara, Khyber Agency. He told police that his accomplice Ihsanullah escaped but left his motorcar. Both the persons were associated with Lashkar-i-Islam, he added.

The spokesman said that the explosives were packed in a ghee canister, which also contained ball bearings. He said that the IED was defused safely by bomb disposal unit. He said that a case was registered against the two persons.

Another official said that Indus Highway was closed to traffic for some time to defuse the IED. He said it was a time device. He said that the police post was located at a strategic point to check movement of terrorists. The post, he said, was manned jointly by police and Frontier Constabulary.