PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police on Thursday denied media reports, which claimed that two policemen were martyred in a Kohat attack on April 3 after the bullets fired by militants pierced through bulletproof vests and helmets worn by the personnel.

“Our [police] personnel embraced martyrdom after the bullets hit those parts of their bodies, which were not covered by bulletproof jackets and helmets. The attackers fired 48 bullets and only two of them hit helmets and jackets,” Forensic Science Laboratory director Waqar Ahmad told reporters here.

He said that the bullets left small marks on suicide vests but didn’t enter them, suggesting those jackets were not penetrable by bullets.

Police personnel Ayaz and Qasim lost their lives in the April 3 militant attack on the Bannu Road in Mirozai area of Kohat.

The policemen were on their way to the Abu Bakar and Hamza mosques to perform security duty for taraveeh prayers.

Soon after the attack, head of the Mohammad Riaz Shaheed police station Islamuddin claimed that the bullets fired by militants had pierced through bulletproof jackets and helmets of the martyred police personnel.

The lab director said that the bullets fired by militants didn’t go through suicide vests and helmets and were instead blocked.

He added that the militants used 30-calibre and 9mm pistols and sub-machine guns in the Kohat attack against police personnel.

Deputy Inspector General (International Accountability) of the provincial police Mohammad Suleman, who was also in attendance, said that the bulletproof jackets and helmets worn by policemen were manufactured 8-10 years ago but they’re still “effective.”

“A committee was formed to check the effectiveness of bulletproof jackets and helmets seized at the site of the militant attack. It found no bullet hole in them,” he said.

The DIG said that the police department was purchasing new equipment, including bulletproof helmets and jackets, which would be effective for three years.

He also said that all suicide jackets and helmets were properly tested before being distributed to the police personnel.

On Tuesday, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief Akhtar Hayat Khan Gandapur formed a two-member committee to probe the militant attack.

A notification issued by the Central Police Office here said that a fact-finding committee comprising DSP (logistics) at the CPO Sanaullah and sub-inspector Safdar Khan would look into the attack and submit its report within a week.

It added that the committee would visit the place of crime, ascertain the kind of weapons used to kill police personnel, and examine the helmets and jackets issued to the deceased.

According to it, the panel will check what “security gadgets” the two police personnel received from the department for permanent and temporary use.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2023