LAKKI MARWAT: Five policemen were injured when terrorists attacked the North Waziristan district police officer’s vehicle in Bannu on Monday.

A police official said that the terrorists ambushed the North Waziristan DPO Waqar Khan’s vehicle along with his escort squad near a flour mill on the Miramshah Road when he was coming to Bannu to attend an official meeting at the regional police office.

He said that five policemen were injured in the sudden attack, which also triggered a fierce gun battle.

“Several assailants were also killed in the gunfight while their accomplices managed to flee the place,” the official claimed, saying that the police did not suffer major casualties in the ambush as the vehicles of the district police chief and his escort were bulletproof.

He said that the injured cops included Rasool Mohammad, Maghfirullah, Sher Ahmad, Hashim Khan and Syed Mohammad and they were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital. After the attack, a large police contingent reached the area and launched a search for the fleeing terrorists.

MNA Maulana Syed Naseem Ali Shah, regional police officer Sajjad Khan, Bannu deputy commissioner Mohammad Fahim, additional deputy commissioner Umar Khitab and North Waziristan DPO Waqar Khan visited the DHQ Hospital where they enquired after the wounded policemen.

Meanwhile, a police’s Special Branch official, who had been kidnapped from the Bannu’s Havaid area on Oct 31, was freed from terrorists on Monday. A police official confirmed the development and said that after the abduction of constable Shafiullah Khan, the police intensified efforts for his safe release from captors.

“The police authorities also engaged a tribal jirga to secure the release of the kidnapped official,” he added.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2025