PESHAWAR: Gunmen killed a counter-terrorism department official and injured three in the Mian Gujjar area on the outskirts of Peshawar city on Thursday morning, the police said.

The police officials said acting DSP Ghani Khan was attached with the police’s counter-terrorism department.

An official of the Chamkani police station told Dawn that unidentified people opened fire on the vehicle of Ghani Khan at around 9:30am when he was on the way to office from his house in Mian Gujjar area.

He said the DSP died on the spot, while three people, including two passersby, including a woman and one of the official’s guards, suffered minor injuries.

Police claim deceased’s family involved in property dispute

The police investigators suspect that at least two people were involved in the gun attack as empties of 9mm pistol and AK-47 were recovered from the crime scene.

A statement issued by the city police claimed that the slain official’s family was involved in a property dispute with close relatives and that some people had suffered injuries in the incidents of firing by each other.

It, however, said it was immediately not clear whether the attack was motivated by personal enmity or it had a terrorist link.

A senior official told Dawn that the police had so far not found any terror link in the attack.

City police chief Mohammad Karim Khan told reporters that the police were probing the killing from different angles and he was hopeful about the early tracing of the culprits. He said the police had retrieved two types of bullet casings from the crime scene.

When asked if the attack was an act of targeted killing, the city police chief said it would be premature to say so.

“We are investigating the case and have collected clues from the crime scene,” he said.

Funeral prayers of the slain cop were offered at the Malik Saad Shaheed police lines on Thursday afternoon, where Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, police chief Dr Mohammad Naeem Khan, the chief secretary, inspector general of Frontier Constabulary, and other senior officials were in attendance.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2019