Cop martyred, two soldiers injured in Bajaur blasts

KHAR: A cop was martyred and two soldiers were injured in two back-to-back blasts in Bajaur tribal district on Sunday, official sources said. They said that the security forces and police were carrying out a joint search operation in Darra area in Bajaur’s Salarzai tehshil when an explosion took place. It caused injuries to two soldiers, Naik Arshad and Sepoy Muhammad Zeb. “Another blast took place after a short interval in the same area in which a policeman, Waqifullah, was martyred,” an official said. After the twin blasts, the security forces and police cordoned off the area and launched a search operation in a bid to capture the perpetrators of the attacks. The martyred cop and injured soldiers were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital in Khar. Later, the funeral prayer of the police constable was offered in the Civil Colony in Khar. It was attended by the police, civil and military officials. The outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the two blasts through its spokesman Mohammad Khorasani. However, he claimed that both attacks targetted policemen causing one death and injuries to several other cops.

Waqifullah was reportedly the first cop to be martyred in Bajaur and rest of ex-Fata. Earlier, a Levies man was martyred in North Waziristan. The Levies and Khassadars have now been merged with the KP Police. The police was deployed after Fata’s merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.