BAJAUR: The police arrested an accused here on Thursday for sexually assaulting and killing a minor girl.

Residents and police said the gruesome incident occurred in the Mena area wherein the accused, a resident of the same locality, raped an eight-year-old girl and later killed her by hitting her head with a stone.

They said after committing the inhuman act, the accused later buried the body of the victim in a deserted area. The police officials said that during the search the visiting police team found the victim’s body buried near a mountain.

District police officer Waqas Rafique told reporters on Thursday that the accused identified as Bilal Khan, 19, was a neighbour of the victim. He was arrested from his hometown in Mena area.

The DPO claimed that during investigation, the accused confessed to his crime and disclosed that he had killed the victim with a stone after sexually assaulting her.

The DPO said that the postmortem report conducted at the district headquarters hospital, Khar, also confirmed that the victim was sexually abused before being brutally killed. He said efforts were under way to collect more evidence to ensure exemplary punishment to the accused.

The people from different walks of life in the district strongly condemned the brutal killing and called for giving severe punishment to the accused.

Meanwhile, A police official martyred by unknown gunmen while escorting a polio vaccination team on Wednesday was laid to rest in his native area in Bajaur on Thursday.

The 27-year-old Rab de Mal Shah, who was martyred in a fatal attack in Damadola area on Wednesday afternoon, when he was returning to his post after performing polio duty, was laid to rest in the presence of hundreds of people in his native Gardai area on Thursday morning.

His funeral prayers were attended by a large number people from all walks of life at Government Higher Secondary School Gardai.

Earlier, the official funeral prayers ofthe martyred policeman were held at police lines ground in Khar on Wednesday evening.Senior officials of the district administration, security forces, and police, including, deputy commissioner Shahid Ali Khan, commandant Bajaur Scouts Brig Saad Mehmood, DPO Waqas Rafique and others attended the prayers.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2025