Police station, SP office attacked in Peshawar suburbs

PESHAWAR: Armed militants attacked the Chamkani Police Station and the office of superintendent of police (SP), Rural, on the main Grand Trunk Road with a hand-grenade and later opened fire with automatic weapons in the wee hours of Friday.

Unlike other police stations attacked in recent months, Chamkani is located on the eastern side of the provincial capital on the busy highway that connects Peshawar with Islamabad. The office of SP Rural is also located inside the building of the police station.

“Armed attackers lobbed a hand-grenade at the police station building that went off but did not cause any casualty,” SP Rural Zafar Ahmad told reporters.

He added the cops were alert and opened fire on the attackers, who managed to escape.

An official said a search operation was conducted in the vicinity after the attack.

Mayor Peshawar Zubair Ali visited the police station and appreciated the cops for repulsing the attack. The mayor also discussed installation of closed-circuit television cameras in the area for better monitoring.

A few weeks back, a hand-grenade was hurled at the Tarnab post of the Chamkani Police Station after which four policemen were suspended for negligence.

The Chamkani Police Station is close to the main Peshawar city and does not share any border with tribal areas that has set the alarm bells ringing.

Before that, the Sarband and Regi police stations on the western side close to the Khyber district came under attacks that claimed several lives, including a deputy superintendent of police, and injured many others. The offices of SP Saddar and DSP Badaber on Kohat Road have also come under grenade attacks in the past months.