CHARSADDA, Nov 4: A group of masked men carrying sophisticated assault rifles paraded in Shabqadar town, Charsadda district, ahead of a visit of federal Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao on Saturday.

Mr Sherpao was to arrive in the town, some 30 kilometres east from Peshawar, to inaugurate a gas supply project. However, he could not attend the function and his son Sikandar Hayat Sherpao inaugurated the project.

Witnesses said that about two dozens masked men brandishing heavy weapons paraded Shabqadar, the headquarters of the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary.

Local police expressed ignorance about the movement of the men.

An official of the Shabqadar Police Station said that Mr Sherpao was scheduled to visit the town, but he dropped his plan at the eleventh hour. The official said that some of the men might have entered the settled area from the adjacent Mohmand Agency.