Attack on ex-KP minister's guesthouse leaves 6 dead

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PESHAWAR: An attack on a guesthouse 'hujra' of a former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa minister, Bakht Baidar Khan, belonging to the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) early on Tuesday left six people dead and four others wounded in Lower Dir region of the province while another three persons were killed and two others wounded in a gun battle between two rival parties in Karak.

Police sources said that a tribal jirga, or gathering, was underway at the guesthouse of QWP's Member of Provincial Assembly, Baidar Bakht Khan, in Chakdara area of KP's Lower Dir region to resolve a dispute between two parties, when unknown persons opened fire as a result of which six people were killed and four others were wounded.

Those killed in the firing included the brother of Bakht Baidar and two policemen.

Khan's slain brother was a former nazim of Chakdara and a contender of the QWP from Lower Dir's NA-36 constituency.

Bakht Baidar is KP's former minister for labour and manpower who was sacked from his post by provincial Chief MInister Pervez Khattak along with another minister of the QWP over 'poor performances and corruption.'

The QWP had left the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)-led coalition government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province following the sacking of its two ministers.

The bodies and wounded were shifted to district headquarters hospital Batkhela.

A search for the attackers went underway following the incident.

In another incident indiscriminate firing by two rival parties resulted in the deaths of three persons and wounded two others including a women in Sabirabad area of Kp's district Karak, according to police officials.

Station House Office (SHO) Sabirabad police station told Dawn that the incident was a result of an old rivalry and added that the wounded included a passerby. The victims were shifted to a nearby hospital.

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