PESHAWAR: A senior police official was gunned down in Dera Ismail Khan district on Thursday.

In another incident a policeman was killed and seven passers-by sustained injuries in an IED explosion in Peshawar.

Police identified the official as DSP Noor Mohammad, who was attached with the police’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD). DSP Noor was targeted in the Khairabad locality of Dera’s Cantt police station jurisdiction.

A police official told Dawn that the officer was on his way to a mosque for evening prayers when an attacker opened fire on him. He succumbed to his injuries in the district headquarters hospital.

In another incident of targeted killing, a policeman was shot dead by assailants in Madena colony of Dera Ismail Khan. The deceased cop was identified as Shah Zeb Mahsood. The attacker managed to escape after the incident.

In a separate incident, a policeman was killed and seven passers-by sustained injuries when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in the limits of the Faqirabad police station on Thursday evening.

A police official said that assailants had placed an IED on the roadside in the Rashid Abad locality of Peshawar. He said the IED targeted the vehicle of a local property dealer identified as Qari Asghar who had enmity with his cousins in Mohmand Agency.

The dealer was on his way home from work.

He said the deceased policeman was deputed at the residence of a retired judge in the area.

The slain policeman was identified as Farman.

SP City Wasim Khalil said that it was a remote-controlled device and two kilograms of explosives were used in the blast.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2016