LAKKI MARWAT: Rivals shot at and injured a local body member in Kalakhel Mastikhan area of Bannu district, the police said on Sunday.

They said Kalakhel Mastikhan village council chairman Mohammad Zubair Khan was attacked by his rivals when he was returning to his village in a car after visiting the residence of MPA-elect Malik Pakhtunyar.

They said the local body member received critical bullet injuries and was shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital, wherefrom he was referred to a Peshawar hospital.

The attackers, Sherbali Khan and Mohammad Nisar, escaped the scene on a motorcycle, the police said.

They said the attackers suspected the village council chairman had his involvement in the murder of their relative, Javed Ali.

The Saddar police registered a case against the attackers under relevant sections of law and began investigation.

In Lakki Marwat, three people, including a teenage boy and a minor, were killed in separate firing incidents on Sunday.

Police said Inshaullah, 20, was shot dead by a rival in Zerjanu area. They said the attacker fled the scene after the murder.

Complainant Nasir Khan, 14, told the city police that he and his brother, Inshaulluh were going to their Eesakkhel village from Zerjanu when their rival, Naqeebullah, suddenly appeared and opened fire. He said his brother received serious bullet injuries and died instantly.

He told the police his family had an enmity with the killer. The police launched an investigation after lodging a case.

Separately, body of a teenage boy was found in the fields near Wanda Shahmadu village in Serai Gambila.

Mohammad Furhad told police his brother, Mubashir Khan, 18, had gone to the residence of his friend, Naveed, in Haramatala.

He said after receiving information that body of his brother was lying in fields, he reached there and shifted the body to a hospital. “Later, I came to know that Naveed had killed Mubashir over a friendship dispute,” he claimed.

Also in the day, a five-year-old boy, identified as Hamad, was hit and killed by a car near Kurrum Bridge on Indus Highway.

The deceased belonged to Wanda Michenkhel.

A rescue official said the boy was crossing the road when a speeding car struck him. He was seriously injured and shifted to a hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2024