SWABI: Scores of goats and sheep were killed by Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) virus in Gadoon Amazai mountainous region of the district, said officials of the livestock department here on Thursday.

The veterinary doctors said that the PPR was also known as sheep and goat plague, which was a dangerous contagious disease and attacked both domestic and wild ruminants.

It has been learnt that the sheep and goat keepers usually took their animals to Dadar area of Gadoon Amazai for grazing. Majority of the people keep sheep and goats for livelihood because they could not grow crops in the mountainous region.

When contacted, a vet doctor said that actually the herd keepers from the other regions had reached the Dadar terrains and they brought the PPR which was now affecting the animals in the region.

Answering a question, he said that they had started vaccination of the sheep and goats in the area.

KILLED: Two persons were killed in separate incidents here on Thursday, said officials of Rescue 1122.

A man identified as Umair Bacha, 27, was on way to district headquarters when two unidentified persons riding a motorcycle opened fire on him near Sheikh Dheri bus stop, leaving him seriously injured. Bacha was taken to Bacha Khan Hospital, Shahmansoor, where doctors pronounced him dead.

In another incident, one Hassan Ali, 14, was seriously injured when unknown assailants opened fire on him near Islamabad-Peshawar interchange, Swabi.

He was taken to Bacha Khan Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2021