LAKKI MARWAT/KOHAT: A policeman embraced martyrdom while another escaped unhurt when armed men attacked them in the Michenkhel area of Lakki Marwat city on Thursday night.

A police official said after performing duty at the Chehlum congregations of Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS), constables Mohammad Tahir and Javed Iqbal were heading for the house of a colleague in Michenkhel for a night stay when four armed men led by Amir Rauf allegedly opened fire, resulting in the martyrdom of Tahir on the spot.

He said the attack occurred in an open area near a mini stadium. The official said the other cops escaped unhurt. He said soon a large police contingent launched a search for the attackers.

He said the city police registered a case against the suspected assailants under the Anti-Terrorism Act and Pakistan Penal Code.

After fulfilling medico-legal formalities at the Government City Hospital, the body was taken to the police lines for funeral prayers.

Deputy Commissioner Fahad Wazir, SP investigations Murad Wazir, relatives of the martyred cop and people from different walks of life attended his funeral prayers.

Later, the deceased cop was laid to rest at a graveyard in his Manjiwala village near Serai Naurang town.

Meanwhile, militants lobbed hand grenades at the Lachi tehsil police station in Kohat on Thursday night.

Officials of the Lachi police station said most of them were asleep and some were on duty when they heard two explosions outside. They said when they went out they found that hand grenades had been hurled, damaging the boundary wall of the police station.

The officials said no human casualty was caused except damage to the boundary wall.

They said the militants came from the western side of the mountainous terrain connecting Kohat, Hangu with Karak, and adjacent to the Waziristan district in the south.

A couple of days ago, militants had attacked a police station in Hangu.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2024