MINGORA: A village defence committee (VDC) member and his police guard were shot dead in Bara Bandai area of Kabal tehsil in Swat valley by suspected Taliban militants while an army soldier was shot dead in Swabi district on Monday.

According to Kanju police, some unidentified militants opened fire on Mohammad Khan, the village defence committee member, when he came out of his house with his two police guards.

“The VDC member died on the spot while his two police guards Bakht-i-Baidar and Bilal Khan were seriously injured in the attack. Bakht-i-Baidar died on way to hospital while Bilal Khan was taken to Saidu Sharif Teaching Hospital,” said Kanju Police Station SHO Rahim Khan.

According to local sources, Mohammad Khan was the last VDC member as all others of the area have either left village defence committees or were killed by unidentified militants.

Law-enforcement agencies, soon after the incident, beefed up security and started a search operation. The security forces arrested several suspected militants from different areas of Bara Bandai and started their interrogation.

The VDCs were formed soon after the military operation Rah-i-Rast was launched against the Taliban in Swat.

They have to keep an eye on Taliban and other militant groups and inform law-enforcement agencies of any suspicious elements in their areas.

All VDC members and peace activists are on the hit list of the Taliban in Swat where unofficial data reveals that over 50 village defence committee members or peace activists have been killed by suspected militants since 2009.

The unending wave of killings of members of VDCs has sparked anger among the people of Swat and they demanded law-enforcement agencies take immediate action against militants.

Muqaddam Khan adds from Swabi: A Pakistan army soldier was shot dead by unidentified gunmen here on Monday.

The incident occurred within the jurisdiction of Tordher police station and the body of the soldier was found in Kund Park.

District Police Officer Javid Iqbal told Dawn that Sufaid Ali belonged to Manki village (Chota Lahor tehsil) and was going back to join duty in the army unit in Hyderabad after completing his vacation. The assailants attacked him in Jehangira region.

The DPO said that first he was strangulated and then shot.

Tordher police have registered an FIR and are investigating the incident.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2016