ABBOTTABAD: A local PTI leader was among 10 people killed in a targeted attack by a rival group in Langra village in Havelian, police said on Monday.

Atif Munsif Khan, the mayor of Havelian tehsil, was travelling in a car when a bullet pierced its fuel tank, resulting in a fire, according to Abbottabad DPO Umar Tufail.

According to videos sha­red on social media, the car was completely gutted in the attack. Two injured were moved to a nearby hospital.

The bodies were shifted to Abbottabad district headquarters hospital for a postmortem examination. No FIR was registered till the filing of this report, but police have started a search operation to arrest the culprit(s).

Some unconfirmed reports claimed that the car was gutted after it was hit by a rocket.

Mr Munsif won the Khyber Pakhtun­khwa local bodies election in 2022 as an independent candidate from Abbo­t­ta­bad’s Havelian tehsil and later joined the PTI. His father, Munsif Khan Jad­oon, was a former member of the KP assembly and remained provincial minister. He was also assassinated in the 1990s.

After the attack, a video featuring Mr Munsif went viral on social media where he could be seen playing cricket with children in the Langra village, hours before his death.

His family have been embroiled in a decades-long enmity with the Buland Khan family. The two sides dominate the area where the attack took place. To date, around two dozen people from both sides have lost their lives in the feud.

The mayor was acquitted last year in a case pertaining to an attack on a rival political leader in May 2015. PML-N’s Khan Javed Khan was injured and his five guards and a driver were killed in the attack in the Baldher area of Haripur, some 25km south of Abbottabad. Mr Javed had blamed Mr Munsif for the attack.

Mr Munsif, his brother Asif Munsif, cousins Uzair Khan and Junaid Younas and their employee Nazakat were arrested in the case. Mr Javed was later assassinated in district courts in Dec 2015 when he was leaving after attending a hearing in the murder case. Junaid Khan Jadoon, 22, a cousin of Mr Munsif had allegedly opened fire and was later arrested.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2023