Alleged killer of four-year-old child shot dead by villagers

PESHAWAR: The alleged killer of four-year-old kid Rohail was shot dead Wednesday evening when his relatives and residents of Braggi village in Lakki Marwat surrounded him in the area and tried to convince him to surrender to the jirga but he instead opened fire on the villagers that was retaliated, officials told The News.

Rohail was murdered in the southern Lakki Marwat district amid a sudden surge in attacks on children since the kidnapping and killing of Zainab in Kasur. The police on Tuesday said the accused had been identified and would be arrested soon.

“The murderer of Rohail namely Kamran was surrounded by villagers at around 7:30pm just out of the village on Wednesday. As per a jirga with the police in the afternoon, he was asked to voluntarily surrender to the police,” District Police Officer Lakki Marwat Arif Shahbaz Wazir told The News.

During conversation, exchange of harsh words took place that was followed by shoot-out in which Kamran was killed by villagers, including his relatives, the official said.

The officials added that the police reached the spot and started investigation. The accused had received three bullets and succumbed to injuries.

Search was started for Rohail after his father reported his missing on January 19. However, the locals of Braggi village in Lakki Marwat, close to the boundary with the tribal areas, found the body of four-year-old Rohail in the fields the other day.

There were signs of torture on his body while the medico-legal report mentioned the cause of the death as strangulation, probably through a rope. Police officials said there are no signs of sexual violence on the body of Rohail.

A special team headed by District Police Officer Lakki Marwat Arif Shahbaz was constituted to identify and arrest the killer.

An official said the accused had some issue with the father of the murdered kid. Police along with Elite Force and policewomen have been searching houses in the vicinity to find the accused Kamran who had gone missing since the murder of Rohail.

On Wednesday, the police told a jirga to hand over the accused to police. “The locals surrounded the accused in the evening to convince him to surrender but he refused and instead opened fire on the people that was retaliated,” official said.