KOHAT: The police destroyed three dens of alleged outlaws during an operation in Kamardhand area near the Indus Highway here on Saturday.

Officials said that district police officer Saleem Marwat constituted a team for the arrest of a group of outlaws of Zari Mohammad in Kamardhand atop a hill. As soon as the police reached there the outlaws who were more than 25 in number opened firing at them, which was retaliated.

As a result, a policeman identified as Jehangir received a bullet injury. He was taken to hospital for treatment.

Heavy exchange of fire continued for about three hours after which the group members escaped taking along with them their weapons and ammunition.

They disappeared in the mountainous terrain, police said.

Later, the district police sent re-enforcement from all the police stations, Frontier Reserve Police and Elite Force to conduct operation that continued for eight hours, but nobody could be arrested.

The police destroyed three dens of the group which were allegedly used by Zari Mohammad for harbouring fugitives.

According to police, the group members are wanted in murder, dacoity and highway robbery cases for a long time.

The Jarma police have registered a case against the group for attacking police and injuring one person.

Meanwhile, the administration of Frontier Region, Kohat, has sought help of the district police to arrest a leader of an inter-provincial gang of women traffickers living in Lachi area of Kohat.

Officials said that two persons detained in FR Kohat on the charges of women trafficking had told interrogators that the gang leader lived in Lachi.

An official, Bashir Khan, said that the FR administration had arrested two members of the gang and recovered a minor girl from their custody.

He said that as they could not operate in the settled area, they had requested the Kohat DPO for arrest of the accused from Lachi.

He said that the girl recovered from the gang and her mother had been brought to FR Kohat from Gujranwala about seven months ago.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2014