SWABI/KOHAT: Unidentified assailants lobbed a hand grenade on the hujra of a local leader of Pakistan People’s Party in Maneri Payan area here on the night between Friday and Saturday, but nobody was hurt in the incident.

Police said that the assailants threw the hand grenade into the hujra of Major retired Fida, and then escaped. Luckily, Mr Fida and other people present in the hujra remained unhurt.

“Preliminary investigations say that the incident was the result of a rivalry,” said a police official.

When contacted, Mr Fida told Dawn that he didn’t know who was behind the attack and what was their motive. However, he said that the attackers wanted to terrorise his family.

The police registered an FIR against unidentified attackers and began investigations.

In Hangu, the police defused a bomb planted near the police training college on Kohat road on Saturday.

Police at Kach Banda checkpost near the police training college, Hangu, spotted a suspicious gas cylinder, and called the Rescue 15 and bomb disposal squad personnel. Later, during inspection it was learnt that the cylinder contained explosives weighing 20 kilogram.The police stopped traffic on the main Hangu-Kohat road while the bomb was defused to avoid any mishap. They also launched a search operation in the area and arrested several suspects for interrogation.

The police had already intensified security in Hangu as it borders North Waziristan where Zarb-i-Azb operation is going on.

The Kohat district has also been declared a sensitive area from security point of view because hundreds of IDPs are coming here from Bannu for their onward journey to Peshawar and Punjab areas.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2014