• Pro-govt ‘commander’, two associates killed in assault by rival group
• Military confirms Afghan national among militants killed in North Waziristan

LAKKI MARWAT / PESHAWAR: Two policemen were martyred when terrorists attacked a police post in the Fatehkhel area of Bannu district late on Friday night.

A police official said that assailants used both light and heavy weapons in the midnight attack. “It was an attack from all sides, aimed at seizing control of the pol­ice post,” the official said, adding that the officers on duty returned fire effectively.

The official said police officers enga­ged the attackers until reinforcements arrived. He added that security personnel successfully repelled the militants’ attempt to overrun the police post, forcing them to flee after a fierce gunfight.

Two constables, identified as Rahimul­lah and Ziaullah, lost their lives in the battle. Their bodies were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital.

This was the second attack on a police post in two days. On Thursday night, militants attempted a similar assault in the same area but were repelled by the police. The attackers reportedly suffered casualties, but managed to evacuate their injured accomplices.

The bodies of the martyred police officers were taken to Iqbal Shaheed Police Lines in Bannu city, where funeral pray­ers were attended by Regional Police Offi­cer (RPO) Imran Shahid, District Police Officer (DPO) Ziauddin Ahmed, Deputy Commissioner Abdul Hameed, other officials, local elders and members of the public.

Police and administration officials pla­ced floral wreaths on the coffins, and an alert police contingent presented a final salute. The bodies were later sent to their native towns for burial with full official honours.

RPO Imran Shahid visited the police post on Saturday, meeting officers and commending them for their resilience against the militants.

Inspecting the damage caused by the attack, he was shown spent cartridges and projectile casings from the militants’ weapons.

Pro-govt commander killed

A pro-government commander and his two associates were killed and at least 10 others injured when a rival group attacked their base near Mirali in North Waziristan late on Friday night.

Sources said around 30 armed men stormed the centre of local peace committee chief Malik Qadir Zaman in the Gurbaz area near Mirali. Commander Fateh, a key figure in the Qadir Zaman group responsible for financial and other affairs, was among those killed.

A resident, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were asleep when heavy gunfire and explosions woke them. “At first, we thought it was a clash between security forces and militants. The gunfire continued for almost an hour,” he said.

According to officials, the injured were shifted to a hospital in Bannu for treatment. Conflicting reports have emerged regarding Qadir Zaman’s condition.

‘Afghan national’

Security forces on Saturday confirmed that one of the three militants killed in an encounter in North Waziristan was an Afghan national involved in multiple attacks.

The military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), stated that the Afghan interim government had been approached to take custody of the body.

On Friday, ISPR said that three burqa-clad militants were shot dead in an intelligence-based operation in the Datta Khel area. The militants, disguised in burqas, were attempting to escape when they were intercepted.

One of them was later identified as Luqman Khan alias Nusrat, son of Kamal Khan, from the Spera district of Afghanistan’s Khost province. Officials said Nusrat had been involved in multiple militant attacks inside Pakistan.

The ISPR statement described such incidents as “irrefutable evidence” of Afghan nationals’ involvement in militant activities within Pakistan. The military urged the Afghan interim government to fulfil its obligations and prevent the use of Afghan territory for such acts.

Our correspondent in North Waziristan also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2025