DSP, cop among five martyred in Bajaur, Karachi terrorist attacks

KARACHI: Terrorists on Friday targeted security officials in Bajaur and Karachi as five people, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and a soldier, embraced martyrdom.

In Bajaur, three persons were killed and 24 others sustained injuries in a remote-controlled bomb blast in the Nawagai tehsil in Bajaur Agency, official sources said.

The sources said that a vehicle was targeted with a remote-controlled bomb in the far-flung border village Charmang Mataak in Nawagai.

“Three tribesmen were killed and 24 wounded in the blast near the Afghan border,” an official said.

Security forces and officials of the political administration cordoned off the area to launch a search operation.

The injured were taken to the Agency Headquarters Hospital in Khar and then six were airlifted to Peshawar due to their precarious condition. The dead were identified as Khairur Rehman, Rahimzada and Muslim Khan. The victims were laid to rest after their funeral prayers were offered in Charmang.

Officials visited the hospital to inquire after the injured. 

Meanwhile, Senator Hidayatullah Khan and leaders of various political parties condemned the blast and offered condolences for the bereaved families.

Meanwhile, in Azizabad area of Karachi, terrorists gunned down two traffic policemen.

The double murder, responsibility for which was claimed by banned militant outfit Ansarul Sharia Pakistan (ASP), brought to 16 the number of policemen who were slain in the metropolis this year.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Muhammad Hanif Khan, 56, and his gunman, Police Constable (PC) Sultan Ahmed, 54, were on routine patrolling in an official Toyota Corolla car at about 9:30am near the Comprehensive High School in Azizabad when a pillion rider of a motorcycle sprayed them with bullets from the windscreen’s side. The assailants then escaped, leaving behind a pamphlet from the Ansarul Sharia Pakistan.

After being called to the scene, police moved the victims to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where the two were pronounced dead, said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Muqadas Haider of the Central district.

The deceased suffered multiple bullet wounds, mostly on their heads and faces.

SSP Haider said the shooter used a 9mm pistol in the offence. Investigators found 20 spent bullet shells from the crime scene and sent them to the forensic division of the Sindh Police.

DSP Hanif Khan had been working as DSP Traffic of Liaquatabad Division and PC Sultan was posted at the Azizabad Traffic Section.