MARDAN/PESHAWAR, April 11: Unidentified persons shot dead a policeman and injured his colleague in Mardan on Thursday.

District Police Officer Tahir Ayub told Dawn that two constables of Hoti police station were performing duty at Chato Chock when unidentified persons opened firing on them.

Constable Gul Rasool was killed on the spot while his colleague Waheed Zaman received injuries in the attack, he said. The workers of Rescue 1122 shifted the body and injured policeman to Mardan Medical Complex.

Doctors at the hospital conducted postmortem of the killed policeman and referred the injured to Lady Ready Hospital in Peshawar due to his critical condition.

The DPO said that they launched a search operation in the adjacent areas to arrest the assailants, who managed to escape after the incident.

It is to be mentioned here that on Wednesday a policeman was killed and another injured in an attack on a police team, providing security to polio workers in Mosam Koroono area of Mardan.

In Peshawar, a leader of Awami National Party and former provincial minister Arbab Ayub Jan escaped a bomb attack, however, three persons sustained injuries in the blast on Thursday evening.

Haji Qasam Khan, personal assistant of the former minister, told Dawn that the blast took place when they were on their way home from a public meeting at Tarnab Farm area.

“The jeep of the former minister was damaged badly but he remained unhurt in the balst,” he said, adding that it was a targeted attack.

An official of Chamkani police station told Dawn that three persons including public relation officer of the former minister were injured in the blast.

Meanwhile, a blast in Matani hospital on the suburbs of Peshawar caused panic among the people of the area on Thursday. A police source said that the blast damaged windowpanes and walls of the hospital, however, it didn’t cause any loss of life. — Dawn Report