MIANWALI: The Mianwali police repelled two terrorist attacks on Sunday without any casualties.
The police said they received intelligence about the presence of militants near the shrine of Malakhel Khasa Baba in the mountainous region under the jurisdiction of Makarwal police. When a police team raided the area, militants opened fire. The police retaliated, and after an hour-long exchange of gunfire, the militants fled.
Later, a large police contingent from Mianwali arrived in Makarwal to begin a combing operation. In the evening, militants launched a second attack on the police force during the search operation. However, the police repelled the attack after another hour of gunfire.
The incident is part of a long history of terrorist attacks on police check posts in Mianwali district. Due to its geographical location, bordering Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, Mianwali has seen several attacks since 2009.
Militants often cross the hilly areas from KP, and there have been multiple attacks on police posts, starting with the destruction of a non-functional patrolling check post in Kundal, Isakhel Tehsil, in 2009. In 2010, militants attacked a post in Dara Tang and in 2022, they targeted the Sharifabad check post in Isakhel. In 2023, Makarwal police was also attacked.
In 2023, militants attacked the functional Kundal patrolling post, where Constable Haroonur Rashid Khan was martyred, and two terrorists were killed. Another attack occurred in 2024 at the Qabool Khel check post in Isakhel, where two police personnel were injured.
Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2024
