MINGORA: Unidentified gunmen on Monday shot at and injured an assistant sup-inspector of police at Tahirabad area of Mingora city here, police said.

ASI Waheed was on way for duty, but when he reached Batayi Chowk unknown miscreants opened indiscriminate fire on him, leaving him injured. He was shifted to Saidu Sharif Teaching Hospital where he was provided first aid. Later, he was shifted to Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar. Waheed received two bullets on his neck.

According to DSP Sadiq Akbar Khan, police and security agencies jointly conducted a search operation to arrest the culprits, but no arrest had been made till filing of this report.

It is pertinent to mention here that it was second incident of armed attack on police in Swat district. Last week, two police personnel were shot dead in Dherai Kanju area.

The local people expressed concern over the fresh wave of targeted attacks on police and peace committee members.

According to the district police office, this is the second targeted attack on police, this year, while eight incidents of targeted killings occurred in 2015, claiming lives of two policemen, three village defence committee members and three civilians.

“Attacks on policemen and VDC members are on the increase, but no culprit has yet been arrested in this regard,” Mohammad Amjad, a social activist, complained.

“Despite presence of huge number of law enforcement personnel in Swat, incidents of targeted killings occur regularly,” Anwar Khan of Saidu Sharif, said.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2016