KOHAT: NWFP Minister for Prisons Mian Nisar Gul Kakakhel was seriously injured and his two guards were killed when his convoy was ambushed by suspected militants in Darra Adamkhel on Thursday.

A senior official told Dawn that one of the attackers was killed and two others were injured in a shootout with the minister’s guards.  Security personnel cordoned off the entire area and launched a search for the injured militants.

The minister was going to Peshawar from his hometown of Karak when three armed men started firing on the convoy when it was near Akhorwal. 

The minister who suffered bullet wounds in the chest and abdomen was taken to the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar where he was operated upon. 

District Coordination Officer and Political Agent of the Frontier Region of Kohat Siraj Ahmed told Dawn by telephone that the minister’s condition remained critical, although doctors reported some improvement. 

The minister’s driver, Fayaz, who also was admitted to the Lady Reading Hospital, was in a stable condition. Hospital sources said that Fayaz was beaten up by the assailants and there was no bullet wound on his body.