PESHAWAR, Aug 3: The president of Khyber Agency Journalists Union, Khyal Zaman Afridi, received serious injuries when some armed persons attacked him at Akakhel Area of Bara, Khyber Agency, on Sunday morning.

The attackers also kidnapped one of his friends, Mohammad Waseem Niazi, hailing from Lahore, who visited him in Bara in connection with a theft case allegedly committed by his former watchmen belonging to the tribal area.

It was learnt that activists of Lashkar-i-Islami reached the scene of the incident and took two of the alleged attackers into their custody.

Mr Khyal Zaman Afridi, who is a Bara-based correspondent of Urdu Daily Aaj, was taken to Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, where he was stated to be in a stable condition till the filing of this report.

Journalists from Bara stated that some employees of Mr Waseem had stolen a precious gun and other valuables from his residence in Lahore and had fled away.

They added that Mr Waseem contacted Mr Afridi to help him out and on his intervention the alleged culprits agreed to resolve the matter through a jirga.

They stated that the culprits asked Mr Waseem to visit Bara. They added that on Sunday morning, Mr Waseem and Mr Afridi were going to pick another friend, Tufail, so as to proceed for the jirga.

In the meantime, some armed persons attacked them at Akakhel area. Some of them forcibly took away Mr Waseem, whereas one of them fired at Mr Afridi.

Lashkar-i-Islami activists were reportedly questioning the two alleged attackers about the incident.