KHAR/MARDAN: A member of Nawagai peace committee was killed in a roadside bomb blast in Nawagai tehsil of Bajaur Agency on Friday morning.

Local political administration and people said Khalid Khan, son of Nawagai peace committee chief Maulana Guldad Khan, was walking to a nearby place when he was targeted with a remote-controlled bomb in the far-flung locality of Nawagai town, some 32 kilometers northwest of Khar, the agency headquarters.

They said Khalid Khan, 42, was critically injured in the blast and died before he was taken to the hospital.

Soon after the blast, relatives of the deceased and people of nearby areas showed up but attackers fled.

The Jamaatul Ahrar faction of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the blast.

Talking to reporters from an undisclosed location over the phone, Jamaatual Ahrar spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan said members of his outfit had targeted Khalid Khan by an improvised explosive device over his anti-Taliban activities in the region.

“Our fighters are responsible for the killing of Khalid Khan. He, his Peace volunteer killed in Bajaur bomb blast father and other family members were on our hit list for supporting the government in anti-Taliban activities,” he said.

Later, the local administration with the help of Bajaur levies force and peace committee members mounted a search for attackers in areas around the blast site.

Confirming search operation in the area, a local official told Dawn that investigations were underway to arrest assailants.

He, however, said no arrest had been made.

Maulana Guldad Khan was targeted by militants several times in the past over activities against them.

Several of his family members, including son and brother, have been killed in militant attacks since 2007.

TWO KILLED GRENADE BLAST: A schoolteacher and his 12-year-old son were killed in a hand grenade explosion near a police checkpost in Manga area of Mardan on Friday.

The Saddar police said the deceased were Karim Gul and his son, Zohaib, who worked in their agricultural fields.

They said the blast occurred after the boy found a hand grenade and showed it to his father.

The police said the two died instantly after the explosion.

The local residents and Rescue 1122 personnel shifted the two to the Mardan Medical Complex, where doctors pronounced them dead.

The police said they had registered the case and began probe.

Meanwhile, a four-year-old boy died of suffocation caused by gas leak in his Takhtbai house here on Friday.

Relatives said the incident occurred in Pir Saddu area when Ibrahim was asleep in his room.

They said the death was caused by suffocation caused by the filling of gas in the room from a leaking pipe.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play