LAKKI MARWAT: A villager was killed in a clash between armed volunteers of a peace committee and terrorists in the Begukhel area of Lakki Marwat district late Saturday night.

Local residents and police officials said that an exchange of fire erupted when a group of terrorists attacked the volunteers of the peace committee.

A resident said that armed members of the peace committee used to patrol the entry and exit points of the rural locality during the night to prevent any possible terrorist attack.

“The Begukhel area, the hometown of MNA Sher Afzal Marwat, is under threat for forming the peace committee and preparing armed volunteers to counter terrorists,” he claimed.

They said that the gun battle lasted for an hour, resulting in the death of a differently-abled villager, identified as Ajmal Khan.

According to some unconfirmed reports, the assailants also suffered losses but they managed to take away bodies of at least two accomplices and several injured with them.

A police official said that a villager lost his life in the gunfight and his body was shifted to the Government City Hospital.

He said that a large contingent of police also reached the venue but by then the terrorists had fled.

He said that the policemen started combing the surrounding areas in search of the fleeing terrorists.

SUSPECTS ARRESTED: Scores of suspects, including narcotics dealers, were arrested during an operation in Lakki Marwat and Bannu districts on Sunday.

Lakki Marwat district police officer Jawad Ishaq told Dawn that the operation was launched on the instructions of IGP Zuilfiqar Hameed to eliminate narcotics dens and save youth from the menace of drugs.

He said Regional Police Officer Bannu Sajjad Khan had tasked district police teams with cracking down on drug traffickers to ensure their arrest by using all available resources. Mr Ishaq said that during the operation, the cops apprehended seven drug barons, including a proclaimed offender, from different areas and seized 2.7 kilogrammes of hashish, arms and ammunition from them.

In Bannu, police also arrested 15 narcotics dealers during separate actions under the supervision of DPO Saleem Abbas Kulachi, an official said.

He said that the law enforcers recovered 12.5kg hashish, 510 gram heroin and 2.1kg ice drug from arrested suspects and registered cases against them.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2025