LAKKI MARWAT: Multiple attacks, suspected to be terror incidents, were reported from across different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thurs­day night, but there was no official word from military or security agencies regarding the incidents, or the number of casualties.

A powerful explosion, followed by several blasts and heavy gunfire, rocked Lakki Marwat city on Thursday night, official sources said.

Sources said the blast took place near the Government Postgraduate College, which houses security forces and a military camp.

Residents said that after the first explosion, several other blasts were also heard, followed by heavy gunfire, which partially damaged houses in the settled area.

People came out of their homes after the first blast shook the area, but subsequent explosions and gunfire drove them indoors.

Citing preliminary reports, sources said militants had attacked a military compound late in the night. “It was a bomb and gun attack,” they said, adding that troops retaliated and a fierce gunbattle continued for about an hour.

The management of the district headquarters hospital called doctors and paramedics to duty to cope with any possible emergency.

A hospital staffer said that doctors and paramedics were put on alert, but no victim had been brought to the facility thus far.

Muhammad Ashfaq Khan, Lakki Marwat’s district police officer, told Dawn that the exchange of fire stopped and no casualty had been reported until going to print.

“All installations of the army and police are safe,” he said, adding that security had been beefed up across the district after the attack.

The attack came after three militants, who had targeted a retired colonel in his guestroom, were killed on April 24 in a shootout with counterterrorism and police officers in the Paharakhel Thall village of Lakki Marwat.

A CTD inspector, Javed Iqbal, who was wounded in the exchange of fire later succumbed to wounds at a hospital in Bannu.

Meanwhile, a number of other incidents were also reported in the early hours of Friday; two in the Janikhel area of Bannu district and one in the Mir Kalam area of Tank district. However, neither police nor Inter-Services Public Relations offered any information until the time of going to print.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2023