KHYBER: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Monday directed the police department to suspend the district police officer of Khyber tribal region over the killing of two people in custody in his native area and ordered an inquiry into the incident.

The police said two arrested car smugglers were killed when unidentified assailants exchanged fire with them in Jamrud tehsil on Sunday evening.

They said that as part of investigation, they took detainees Eshfaq Ahmad and Hidayat Khan to the site where alleged car smugglers had killed Malagori SHO Riaz Hussain Afridi earlier in the day.

The police insisted that their team, accompanying the two detainees, came under intense fire from different directions by unidentified gunmen, suspected to be the colleagues of the arrested men.

Jamrud residents stage protest against ‘extrajudicial’ killings

On Monday, scores of Jamrud residents held a protest demonstration to condemn the alleged extrajudicial killing of two suspects on Sunday evening.

Organised under the banner of Zwan Kukikhel Tanzeem, a local youth organisation, the demonstrators also blocked the main highway leading to Torkham while placing the coffins of the two men with their family members also in attendance.

They accused the police of “orchestrating” the extra-judicial killing of Eshfaq Ahmad and Hidayat Khan, both residents of Jamrud, who were arrested after an exchange of fire in the Malagori area. Police official Riaz Afridi was killed in the crossfire.

The protesters insisted that none of the two detainees was involved in the killing of SHO Riaz Afridi, with the police not transparently investigating the charges against them.

Demanding a transparent judicial enquiry into extrajudicial killing of the two detainees, the demonstrators also called for immediate suspension and registration of FIR against CCPO Peshawar Dr Saeed and DPO Khyber Waqar Ahmad.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Sohail Afridi took notice of the incident, ordering the suspension of the Khyber DPO over the killing of detainees as well as an inquiry into it.

A letter issued by the chief minister’s office said Mr Afridi had taken a serious note of the incident.

“In this context, under Section 9(2) of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Act, 2017, the chief minister directs that the DPO Khyber be temporarily closed to Police Headquarters and that an inquiry into the incident be conducted within a period of seven days,” it said.

The letter added that the inspector general of police was requested to kindly take necessary action accordingly and furnish a comprehensive inquiry report to the secretariat at the earliest so that the matter was thoroughly examined, responsibility determined in accordance with law and appropriate action taken to uphold the principles of justice and accountability.

On Monday, a local jirga headed by Khyber MNA Iqbal Afridi met Mr Afridi to demand the removal of the DPO and other senior officials.

They also called for payment of compensation to the families of the deceased.

Though the chief minister’s directives regarding the inquiry and DPO’s suspension were issued after the meeting, the protesters refused to end their sit-in saying they had no faith in government promises.

On Sunday, SHO Riaz Afridi was critically injured during a shootout with the smugglers of non-customs paid vehicles when he tried to intercept them while they were trying to smuggle NCP vehicles to the bordering Mohmand district. He later succumbed to his injuries during treatment at the hospital.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2026