LAKKI MARWAT: At least three people, including two policemen, lost their lives and two personnel of the Frontier Consta­bulary received injuries in multiple attacks by militants targeting law enforcers and civilians in the Lakki Marwat and Bannu districts on Monday.

Two police officials were martyred after unidentified gunmen targeted them in the Jabukhel area of Lakki Marwat, said an official, adding the attack took place near Nawab Khan Graveyard in the limits of the Ghaznikhel police station. Both policemen were killed on the spot and the terrorists managed to escape on a motorcycle.

The slain constables, Hikmatullah and Khan Bahadar, were on their way to their respective duty stations on a motorcycle from their village Kherukhel Pacca. He said that the deceased constables Hikmat and Khan Bahadar were deployed at the Shaheed Haibat Ali Khan police station of Darra Pezu town and Shahbazkhel police station, respectively. “They were assigned the duty to receive official letters and communications from their respective police stations and take/dispatch those to the district police office daily,” he said.

After the attack, a heavy contingent of law enforcers reached the area and launched a search for the assailants. Hearing about the attack on police officials, residents armed with weapons also came out of their houses to hunt down the attackers.

In the ensuing operation, one militant commander was gunned down by the law enforcers and villagers. “In the ensuing gun battle, the police with the help of the CTD commandos and armed villagers eliminated a militant commander in the area,” he added.

A Rescue 1122 official said that they immediately dispatched a medical team, along with an ambulance vehicle, to the venue of the attack when the control room received information about the incident. He said that the bodies of martyred cops were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital Tajazai for medico-legal formalities. The coffins were later taken to the police lines in the District Headquarters Complex, where last rites were performed and the bodies were dispatched to the Kherukhel Pacca area for burial.

Two injured in Bannu

In Bannu, a Frontier Constabulary camp located near the airport in Bakkakhel and a police post in the Bargantoo area of Wazir subdivision came under attack on Sunday night. A police official said that two FC soldiers were injured in the attack and shifted to a hospital.

“Their condition is stable,” he said, adding that the Frontier Constabulary personnel effectively responded and forced the assailants to flee. He said the police also repulsed a terrorist attack on a post at Bargantoo, in the Wazir subdivision.

“Terrorists armed with light and heavy weapons attacked the post in a bid to breach it, but the policemen deployed there exhibited unprecedented bravery and replied in the same manner,” he added.

One killed in attack on cash van

In a separate attack in Lakki Marwat, a cash van owned by a private security company came under attack on the busy Manjiwala road. Police and rescue officials said armed men targeted the van with grenades and rockets, killing the driver and injuring others.

They said the driver was identified as Muhammad Ashraf, a resident of Karak, and the injured included Naeem Khan of Bannu and Saeedur Rehman of Karak. A rescue official said the deceased and the injured were moved to the Government City Hospital. The wounded were later referred to Bannu due to their critical condition.

Security was beefed up both in Lakki Marwat and Bannu after the attacks, with the police having increased patrolling and searching the suspected hideouts of miscreants and criminals in the area.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2025