NOWSHERA: Three bullet-riddled bodies were found near Jabbi Road in the jurisdiction of Nizampur police station here on Thursday.

Police said that after getting information they reached the spot and took the bodies into their custody. When contacted, DSP Akora Khattak circle Adnan Azam said that the victims had been shot by unknown assailants in the head and chest. He said that the police had also recovered a pistol from the spot.

Answering a question, he said that they were investigating the motive behind the incident. The deceased were identified as Qari Abdullah and Arshadur Rehman of Maneri, Swabi district, and Mohammad Jawad of Khan Colony, Mardan.

The bodies were brought to the DHQ hospital, Nowshera, and during autopsy NICs were recovered from their clothes.

Hospital sources said that two of the victims were about 22 years of age and the third one about 27. The bodies of Abdullah and Arshad were handed over to their relatives, while body of Jawad was yet to be collected by his family.

It was stated that Abdullah was a prayer leader in a Swabi mosque and he had got education from a madressah.

Relatives of Arshad and Abdullah claimed that they had been missing from homes for the last 14 months and their cases were filed in courts.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2016