MINGORA: A police official was killed and two others injured when gunmen ambushed their official vehicle in Manglore locality of the Swat valley late on Monday night.

This was the second attack of its kind in 24 hours. Earlier on Sunday, a member of the Village Defence Committee (VDC) and his guard were shot dead by assailants in the district.

Swat District Police Officer (DPO) Saleem Marwat said that the police van was on routine patrol duty when assailants opened fire on it, causing injuries to three personnel of the special police force. “One policeman, Fazal Wahid, succumbed to his injuries while two others, Zahir Shah and Ubaidullah, were shifted to Saidu Teaching Hospital for treatment,” he said.

The assailants managed to escape. Local residents said that gunshots echoed through the area for a long time.

DPO Marwat said that such timid actions would not discourage police personnel, adding that the culprits would be arrested soon. Sometime later, police and security forces cordoned off the area to conduct a search operation and detained around 50 suspects.

This was the second such incident in the area in 24 hours as gunmen shot dead VDC member Mohammad Khan and his police guard at Bara Bandai village in Kabal tehsil on Sunday.

Over 50 VDC members and 42 personnel of the special police force have been killed in targeted attacks since 2009. In the current year alone, police have come under attack at least five times, resulting in the deaths of four personnel and leaving five others injured.

The special police force or community police was set up in Swat in 2009 after the area was cleared of militants. Over 4,000 jobless youths were employed on a salary of Rs15,000 per month. However, that number has gradually decreased and currently, just over 2,000 special police force personnel perform duty alongside the regular police.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2016