KOHAT/LOWER DIR/DERA ISMAIL KHAN: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police have begun an investigation into the martyrdom of two Kohat policemen in Monday night militant attack.

Also, an official of the traffic police was martyred in a gun attack in Lower Dir district, while a militant was killed and two injured in a police crackdown in Dera Ismail Khan district.

SHO of Kohat’s Mohammad Riaz Shaheed police station Islamuddin told Dawn that police personnel Ayaz and Qasim were attacked by militants on the Bannu Road in Mirozai area on Monday night when they’re on the way to the Abu Bakar and Hamza mosques to perform security duty for taraveeh prayers.

He said the bullets fired by the attackers pierced the helmets and bulletproof vests worn by the policemen.

Traffic cop shot dead in Dir; militant killed, two injured in DI Khan action

The SHO said funeral prayers for the deceased were offered at the police lines on Tuesday.

Provincial police chief Akhtar Hayat Khan Gandapur formed a two-member committee to probe the militant attack.

A notification issued by the Central Police Office said a fact-finding committee comprising DSP (Logistics) at the CPO Sanaullah and sub-inspector Safdar Khan would look into the attack and submit its report within a week.

It added that the committee would visit the place of crime, ascertain the kind of weapons used to kill police personnel, and examine the helmets and jackets issued to the deceased.

It will check what “security gadgets” the two police personnel received from the department for permanent and temporary use.

Meanwhile, a motorcyclist shot a traffic police constable dead in the Talash Bazaar of Lower Dir district and fled.

The police identified the deceased as Bakht Zamin, a 35-year-old resident of Ouch Sharqi, and said he was attacked while performing duty at a busy intersection.

They said they had registered a case and started a search for the gunman.

Local SHO Tauhid Khan told Dawn that Bakht Zamin was a victim of targeted killing.

The deceased’s family claimed that it had no enmity.

Also, the Dera Ismail Khan police said it killed a militant group’s member and injured others in a pre-dawn operation in the Kot Essa area in the wee hours of Tuesday.

The operation was launched by the provincial police’s Albarq Unit at 3am in the jurisdiction of the Daraban police station on a tip-off about the presence of militant commander Mazhar Gandapur.

The police said militant Ansar Abbas, a resident of Kot Essa area, was killed in an exchange of fire with police, while other members of the militant group, including its commander Mazhar Gandapur, fled.

District police officer Rauf Qaiserani toldDawnthat Mazhar Gandapur and another militant were believed to be wounded by the police gunfire.

He said the sub-machine guns snatched from the police were also seized along other unlicensed arms.

Last month, a police constable was killed and two others injured by the same militant group in the area.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2023