LANDI KOTAL: A suspected militant was killed and five of his accomplices were arrested during a `shootout’ after the murder of a tribal elder in Jamrud on Thursday.

Security officials said Malik Badshah Khan Sikandar Khel was gunned down in Malak Shaga locality of Ghundi when he was going to Jamrud bazaar.

They said security forces reached the area swiftly and engaged the killers of the tribal elder. “One suspected militant, Saddam Jan, was killed and five more attackers, one of them with bullet wounds, were apprehended during the shootout,” they said.

Security forces combed the Ghundi area after the incident and picked up at least 45 suspects.

The arrested men were taken to an army camp for interrogation. 

Meanwhile, one Zai Khan Kattakhel was killed by unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle in Shah Kas area of Jamrud. The motive for the murder could not be ascertained.

Also on Thursday, the Khasadar force arrested an Afghan national at the Takhta Beg checkpost and shifted him to Jamrud for questioning.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2014