KOHAT: Two persons were killed and four others injured in a clash between two rival groups at Kutcheri Chowk here on Friday.

The cantonment police officials overpowered the fleeing accused and recovered four pistols and cartridges from their possession.

Police said that the armed groups of Anwar Hayat and Yar Mohammad, residents of Somari Payan village, came face to face near the district courts and opened indiscriminate firing at each other. As a result, Zahir Shah and Jasir Ameen died on the spot. The three injured of the rival group were identified as Mohammad Ilyas, Bahar Ali and Naveed Mehmood. A passer-by woman was also injured in the crossfire.

They were taken to the KDA teaching hospital where after autopsy the bodies were handed over to the relatives, while the wounded were admitted to the surgical ward. The cantonment police have registered two separate cases of the incident.

ARRESTED: The security forces and police personnel in a joint operation arrested 35 suspects and seized a big quantity of weapons in Junglekhel area here on Friday.

Junglekhel police station SHO told mediapersons that the forces accompanied by armed personnel carriers and machinegun-mounted vehicles had cordoned off the whole residential area for conducting a targeted operation. During the house-to-house search as many as 35 people were taken into custody and three unlicenced Kalashnikovs, three rifles, one 12-bore repeater and three pistols were seized.

The suspects were being interrogated at the police station whereas cases had been registered against those having illegal arms. Seven non-local people were also booked for hiring houses without submitting their biodata to the nearby police station, a police statement said.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2017