DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Un­­known militants gun­ned down a policeman on the Tank-Wana road in the Wazirabad area of Tank district on Tuesday.

According to a police official, constable Sharif­uddin was on his way to duty when the militants targeted him near a grid station. He embraced martyrdom on the spot. The assailants fled the scene after the attack.

A heavy police contingent, inc­luding SP Investigation Haji Nasir Khan, DSP Headquarters Abdul Rasheed Khan, DSP Jandola Syed Marjan, arrived at the scene.

A search operation in the area has been started.

The funeral prayers of the martyred constable were offered in the District Police Office and attended by senior police officers and a large number of citizens.

A special contingent of police presented a salute to the coffin of the martyred constable.

This was the second attack on police in Tank district in just one week. In the previous attack on Saturday, two cops, inclu­ding a station house offi­cer (SHO), were martyred while six others, including DSP, sustained injuries.

The attack came a day after militants ambushed a convoy of Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDL) employees in Darazinda tehsil of Dera Ismail Khan, around 60km south of Tank.

Two company employees and a sepoy employed on security duty were martyred in the attack.

Two other employees were also abducted, a police report said on Tuesday.

The kidnapped employees have been identified as driver Khayal Muham­mad and helper Hafeez Ullah.

A case has been regist­­ered in Darazinda police station, and a search operation has been launched to arrest the culprits.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2023