Prompt, coordinated response minimised casualties, says IGP

PESHAWAR: Inspector General of Police (IGP) Salahuddin Mehsud has said that the quick and coordinated response of law enforcers minimised the casualties and other damage in the militants attack on the Directorate General of Agriculture here on Friday.
Talking to reporters at the Central Police Office (CPO) here, the IGP said that the quick response, coordination and better strategy showed that the law enforcers were fully prepared to face any challenge.
He said that the militants wearing veils had come in a rickshaw between 8-9am in the morning and launched the attack. He said the attackers first opened fire on the watchman at the entrance to the institute and tried to enter the hostel at the facility.
He said the cops, personnel of elite force, rapid response unit, army and other regular and special forces responded to the attack within three-four minutes and engaged the attackers to prevent them from entering the hostel.
He added that the law enforces evacuated the students trapped in the hostel and also kept the attackers engaged at the same time. He maintained that the police had taken control of the hostel before the militants reached there and executed the plan.
The IGP maintained that six students, a watchman and three other civilians were martyred in the attack while several others including a journalist and reporter of a private television Raham Yousafzai, a cop and a soldier sustained injuries in the terror incident.
He said that three attackers were also killed in the exchange of fire with the law enforcers. The provincial police chief said that the backbone of the militants had been broken and their hideouts were eliminated.
He said the retreating militants were staging disparate attacks to show their presence and create panic.
To a question, he said the police searched and checked the tenancy documents of 176,965 tenants in the current year and booked 11,492 persons for incomplete or not registering themselves with the concerned police stations. He said the police also arrested 419 militants in various search and strike operations as well.