PESHAWAR/LANDI KOTAL: Twelve security personnel, a civilian and four militants were killed when gunmen ambushed security forces and police patrol squads in Khyber Agency and Peshawar on Friday.

Eight security personnel died and three others suffered injuries when militants attacked a convoy of security forces in Jamrud area of Khyber Agency on the night between Thursday and Friday.

Security officials claimed that four militants were kil­led in the retaliatory fire. Three attackers were arrested.

Four militants dead, three held, say officials

The personnel of Swat Sco­uts were on a routine patrol in Ghundi’s Malak Shaga area when they came under attack.

The officials said that an unspecified number of armed militants had opened fire at the security personnel riding in three vehicles which were also damaged.

Local people said that immediately after the attack the entire area reverberated with the sound of gunfire. Both sides used heavy and light weapons.

Security forces stationed at the Jamrud Fort used heavy artillery while those deployed at nearby hilltops fired shots at the direction of the site of the attack, causing fear among the residents.

“A team of Frontier Corps was moving to counter the militants on a tip-off, but they came under fire. At least eight security personnel and five militants were killed in an exchange of fire,” AFP quoted an official as saying.

Another official said three militants were arrested while at least 10 escaped from the scene.

According to Reuters, local residents said the gunfire began around midnight and continued for at least two hours. Security forces on Thursday morning claimed to have killed four militants and arrested three of their colleagues. The claim, however, could not be independently verified.

The soldiers who died in the Jamrud attack were identified as Naib Subedar Taj Maluk, Lance Naiks Nusrat Ali and Kashif and Sepoys Irfan, Hazrat Shah, Juma Khan, Siraj Khan and Mohammad Khan.

A curfew was imposed in Ghundi and nearby areas on Thursday morning and a house-to-house search operation was launched. Ten suspects were apprehended. The Jamrud bazaar remained open and traffic on the main Peshawar-Torkham road was also not suspended.

“The militants displaced from North Waziristan have returned to Khyber Agency and started attacks on security forces,” Reuters quoted a security official as saying.

FOUR COPS KILLED: In Peshawar, four policemen and a civilian were killed when two patrol squads came under attack on Friday.

Three policemen in a vehicle stopped at a roadside restaurant on the Ring Road, on the outskirts of the provincial capital, for Iftar when gunmen in a white car opened fire at them. Two of them were killed on the spot. Another policeman and a watchman of the restaurant, identified as Multan Khan, were seriously injured. They were taken to a hospital, where they died.

Peshawar police chief Ijaz Khan identified the dead policemen as Assistant Sub-Inspector Noor Mohammad and constables Baz Mohammad and Mushtaq.

Earlier in the morning, a police official was killed and three constables were injured in a roadside bomb blast.

According to police, personnel of Superior Science College police post were on a routine patrol in Wazirbagh area when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device (IED) planted on a roadside. Head constable Jawed Khan was killed and constables Rozi Gul, Allah Ditta and Ishaq Khan were injured.

“It was apparently a timed bomb containing around two kilograms of explosives,” AFP quoted a senior police official as saying. Soon after the blast, police launched a search operation and took 20 suspects into custody.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2014