MARDAN/CHARSADDA, July 9: Two constables and a prisoner were killed, when gunmen attacked a police van near Sheikh Maltoon Town in Mardan on Wednesday, officials said.

One of the alleged attackers was killed in a police encounter, which took place near Sardaryab area in Charsadda district, while they were fleeing from Mardan, police officials said.

The assailants, believed to be associates of the accused, Arshad, opened fire at the police party in a bid to get him released, when the police were taking him from Nowshera to a court in Mardan. Arshad was arrested in a number of cases, including kidnapping for ransom.

Officials said that the gunmen opened fire on the van near the Sheikh Maltoon Town, killing head constable Abdul Qadir Khan, constable Qamar and the accused Arshad on the spot. The attackers escaped.

The Mardan police immediately alerted the Nowshera, Charsadda and Peshawar police, and also set up check points on the Motorway to nab the culprits.

Later, the Charsadda police spotted the suspected car bearing registration No. MNR-654 near Sardaryab area and signaled the driver to stop, but the inmates opened fire on the police.

In the retaliatory fire, one of the men travelling in the car was wounded, while the others escaped leaving the car behind.

The police arrested the injured man, Hazrat Ahmad son of Hazrat Ali, resident of Malakand Agency. He was taken to the Charsadda hospital, where doctors referred him to Peshawar, but he died on the way to the Lady Reading Hospital. The police impounded the car.

Charsadda DPO Feroz Shah told journalists that the accused travelling in the car opened fire on the police near Sardaryab when they were fleeing. He said that the police had initiated a search operation to arrest the other culprits. Mardan DPO Tahir Khan was also present on the occasion.