Lieutenant colonel killed in Peshawar firing

PESHAWAR: Unidentified attackers shot dead a senior army officer in Hayatabad when he came out of a mosque after offering the Zuhr prayer, officials said on Sunday.Lt Col Tahir Azeem, hailing from the Kaga Wala village on the outskirts of Peshawar, had come from Rawalpindi to attend the wedding of his sister in Hayatabad.
“As he came out of the mosque in Hayatabad Phase-III after offering prayers, unidentified attackers opened fire on him. He received four bullets, including one in the head,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations, Peshawar, Dr Mian Saeed Ahmad, told The News.
Lt Col Tahir Azeem succumbed to his injuries on the spot.A source said the attackers had come on a motorbike and escaped towards the Khyber Agency after killing the army officer. Senior police and army officials rushed to the spot to collect evidence and record statements of the people in the vicinity about the incident.
Police said a search operation was launched in the area to find out about the attackers involved in the killing of Lt Col Tahir Azeem.The father of Lt Col Tahir Azeem, a senior army officer who became the victim of an armed attack in Peshawar, had also served in the Pakistan Army.
Our Timergara correspondent adds: At least 60 shops were partially damaged in an explosion in a double storeyed market in the Jandol Tehsil in Lower Dir district early on Sunday, an official said.
Talking to reporters, the Station House Officer Bakht Jamal said that unidentified persons had fixed an explosive device weighing five kilograms in a double storeyed market that went off at about 3am.
He said that the office of a private mobile company was completely destroyed while 59 other shops suffered partial damage in the blast.Following the explosion, a police party reached the spot and collected evidence.