PESHAWAR/TANK, Jan 29: Four tribesmen were injured in a blast in Achini Bala area on the outskirts of provincial metropolis on Tuesday evening.

A police official said that an explosive device packed in a plastic canister was planted in agricultural fields in the area that was detonated through remote control.

He said that the injured persons were playing cards when they were targeted by the remote controlled explosive device. It was a minor intensity blast, he added.

The injured were rushed to Hayatabad Medical Complex. The injured tribesmen identified as Fazl Mohammad, Guli Shah, Misal Khan and Khan Zada belong to Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency. They shifted to Peshawar from Bara recently.

However, SHO Khizar Hayat Khan told Dawn that it seemed that the injured people were planting the explosive device when it went off. “All of them belong to Khyber Agency and they are also doubtful,” he said. He added that he himself was investigating the case to ascertain if the people were innocent.

It was second blast in the area during the last two days as unidentified persons had targeted a police post on Ring Road on Monday evening. Meanwhile, the law enforcement agencies took two tribesmen into custody during a raid at a hotel in Qissa Khwani on Tuesday.

According to a source, the arrested persons were identified as Akbar Khan and Abdul Haleem, both residents of Khyber Agency.

The source said that they were arrested in the light of some reports about them, but it could not be ascertained as to what they were doing at the time of their arrest.

In Tank district, the body of a former peace committee member was found in Khesora locality on Tuesday.

Adnan, a complainant, told City police station that his brother Akbar Jan went missing five days ago. He said they tried to contact him but his cellphone was switched off. However, his dead body was found at Chesan Katch area on Tuesday, he said.

Akbar Jan belonged to Masood Mitchikhel tribe of Khesora village in tehsil Tiarza of South Waziristan Agency. He had shifted to Tank owing to growing incidents of militancy and consequent military operation in the region. Later he joined a pro-government peace committee.

Adnan said that Akbar Jan was shot in the head with several bullets. Police registered a case against unidentified persons and started investigation.

In Charsadda, unidentified persons blew up an electricity tower in Omarzai area on Tuesday morning.

Sources said that unidentified persons planted improvised explosive devices near a tower of 132KV high transmission line of electricity in Hajiabad area of Omarzai that went off one after another and damaged the tower.

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