KHAR: A tribal elder was killed in a remote-controlled explosion in Mamond tehsil of Bajaur tribal district on Saturday, residents and officials said.

They said the incident happened at around 8am in hilly Lahgari Mualana Kali area, near the Pak-Afghan border, some 24km northwest of Khar, the district headquarters.

They added that Malik Nadar Khan was going to a nearby area when a remote-controlled device planted along the road by unknown miscreants went off.

They said the elder, 65, was critically wounded in the explosion and was immediately shifted to the district headquarters hospital, Khar, by the locals, but he could not survive.

Following the blast, officials of the district administration and Levies personnel reached the spot.

According to officials, a search operation was underway in the area to arrest the miscreants responsible for the attack.

Local residents and family sources told Dawn that Malik Nadar had no personal dispute with anyone in the region.

Nobody has owned responsibility for the blast.

This was the third such incident in the district during the ongoing month.

Earlier, Malik Gul Dad Khan, a member of a former peace committee, was killed in a roadside blast in Charmaing area of Nawagai tehsil.

Fazal Aleem Jan, son of a religious figure, Maulana Shamsul Haq, was killed in remote-controlled bomb in Dabar area of Mamond tehsil.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2019