Three cops killed, seven hurt in Peshawar firing

PESHAWAR: Three policemen were killed and seven others sustained injuries when armed men opened fire on a police party after the killing of a villager during a search operation in the Urmar village on Wednesday.
Police and villagers have two different versions of the pre-dawn incident in the Urmar village that resulted in severe protests by the villagers led by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA and Adviser to the Chief Minister Ishtiaq Urmar.
“A routine search operation was being carried out in Urmar when the SHO along with his gunmen challenged a local, Aslam, wanted by the police under Section 506. The villager, however, opened fire on the police party, injuring three cops after which other policemen retaliated,” Capital City Police Officer (CCPO), Peshawar, Mubarak Zeb, told The News.
He said that when the cops were taking the wounded policemen to hospital, the brother and other relatives of the accused opened fire on the police party from their rooftops.
Three policemen were killed and seven cops and a passerby were injured in the firing. The slain policemen were identified as Roman, Dost Mohammad and Rahmat.
The injured policemen, who were taken to the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, were identified as Mohib Shah, Gul Ahmad, Israrullah, Waqas, Nihar Ali, Bahadur and Imran. One passerby Nazeefur Rahman was also injured in the incident.
The villager killed during the incident was identified as Aslam Niaz.
Hundreds of villagers led by Ishtiaq Urmar took to the streets and surrounded the Urmar Police Station after the incident. They were demanding the arrest of the SHO and his men, saying the cops had killed Aslam Niaz, a young man who had recently done his BBA in his room when he was asleep. “I was told by the locals that the SHO was suspended on the complaint of Aslam after which he along with his party raided his home when he was asleep while his father was offering the Fajr prayers in the mosque,” Ishtiaq Urmar told The News.
Ishtiaq Urmar added that Aslam didn’t open fire on the cops as he was sleeping when he was killed. “Some locals even told me that the cops were killed and wounded in firing by the SHO and his men, not by the villagers,” maintained Ishtiaq. He demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident. “They have killed an innocent villager and that is why we protested against the action and made three demands that include lodging of case against the SHO and arresting him, judicial inquiry into the incident and no police action against the family of the accused,” he added.
He said it should also be probed as to how the SHO conducted the raid despite being suspended by the IGP. “Aslam was charged in an FIR for aerial firing recently but he had got bail from the court. His family is respected in the village and has nothing to do with criminals,” Ishtiaq Urmar stressed.
The incident brought the police force under severe criticism. Many believe it not only resulted in the death of three policemen and injuries to seven others but also put the cops on the defensive.
Many villagers alleged the police action might have a connection with a complaint filed by a villager of Urmar against the SHO on the basis of which the IGP had suspended him on Tuesday and an inquiry was launched against him.
The villagers presumed that either Aslam was the complainant, whose name was wrongly written as Islam in the handout issued by the Central Police Office on Tuesday, or the cops had confused the name of Aslam with Islam and that was probably why the SHO took revenge by raiding his house despite being suspended.
This would be one of the most embarrassing incidents for the police in recent years if the SHO despite being suspended raided a house to settle scores with someone who had lodged a complaint against him.
The funeral prayers of the slain cops were later offered at the Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police Nasir Khan Durrani, District Nazim Peshawar Arbab Asim Khan, CCPO Mubarak Zeb, Senior Superintendent of Police Mian Saeed Ahmad, Commissioner Peshawar Fakhar Alam, Deputy Commissioner Riaz Khan Mahsud, MPA Shaukat Yousafzai and others turned up at the funeral prayers.
A source said the police subsequently launched a search operation in the village and were looking for those who were behind the killing of the three cops.