Spike in target killings, violent street crimes worry Peshawarites

PESHAWAR: A sudden spike in target killings and another wave of violent street crimes have set the alarm bells ringing for the capital city police.

There were two attacks on the Sikh community members as well as a couple of attacks on policemen in the last three days in the suburban areas.

The fresh wave started on Friday with an armed attack on a Sikh trader Tarlok Singh who was shot and injured in the suburban Peshawar.

This was followed by an attack on another Sikh, Manmohan Singh, in the nearby Guldara, Kakshal on Saturday.

Police said Manmohan was on his way in an auto rickshaw when armed men opened fire on him. He succumbed to injuries later.

On Sunday, a policeman Kamran was attacked in the vicinity, another attack in the limits of the Agha Mir Jani Shah police station. The cop was injured in the attack.

The police officials said they have collected CCTV footage, geo fencing record and other evidence from the areas where all these incidents happened in the last few days.

The cops are said to be working to find out the gang or gangs operating in the area.

The locality is thickly populated with people from almost all the parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan living there permanently or in rented houses.

A few hours after the Sunday attack on policeman in Agha Mir Jani Shah, three policemen Imran, Tariq and Umair of the Ababeel Squad were wounded when armed men opened fire on them on the Kohat Road near the Small Industrial Estate around midnight.

One of the alleged attackers was reported to have been injured. There were reports that he died later.

Some reports claimed the attack was by the robbers, another major challenge the capital city police have been facing for a long time.

With some efforts, change in the strategy and better team, things improved for a couple of weeks but gangs started operating more aggressively when the cops started taking it easy.

The senior police officials regularly claim busting innumerable gangs of street criminals but the fact is that snatching and even shooting innocent people during these incidents witness an increase after every few weeks.

After a brief silence in May, many incidents of robberies and snatching were reported in the last few weeks. In many incidents the robbers did not hesitate to open fire, injuring many innocent people.

A number of people were shot and injured in many parts of the provincial capital in the recent weeks.

The Faqirabad police the other day claimed busting a ‘goli maar’ robbers group that was involved in at least two incidents of shooting people in one week, one on June 15 and another on June 20.

A police constable Umair was wounded by the robbers in a similar fashion just outside the office of neighborhood council chairman in Garhi Qamardin last week. There were many incidents in which the groups shot and injured locals.

This has spread fear among the locals once again, asking police for an improved intelligence network as well as better aggressive policies to go after the gangs.

Many called for improved investigation in cases of street criminals held during the last many weeks so that they get due punishment from the courts.

Meanwhile, the capital city police officials said Monday the photos of suspected target killers had been released so the locals can help police identify and arrest the two culprits.