ANP councillor among 2 killed in Hangu IED blast

HANGU: Two persons, including a district councillor of the Awami National Party (ANP), were killed and two others sustained injuries in a roadside blast in Tora Warai village on Saturday, official sources said.
The sources said that Malik Mumtaz, a district councillor belonging to the ANP, along with his cousin and friends was on his way to Doaba from Tora Warai when his vehicle was targetted with an improvised explosive device (IED). Malik Mumtaz and his cousin Javed Khan were killed on the spot while his friends Imam Din and Zahid Khan sustained injuries.
The locals rushed the injured to the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital in Hangu where doctors said their condition was precarious.
Following the incident, the police launched search operation but no arrest was made.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Militants have been active in the past in Hangu district and in the adjoining tribal areas of Orakzai, Kurram and North Waziristan.
Meanwhile, ANP district councillor Abdul Shahid, District Naib Nazim Said Umar, Tehsil Nazim Amir Ghani and other political workers condemned the attack and asked the government to arrest the accused as soon as possible.
Our correspondent in Kohat adds: Unidentified gunmen shot dead a tehsil councillor belonging to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Sheikhan area in the limits of Saddar Police Station on Saturday, sources said.
They said that the councillor, Nasrullah, was on his way home after offering ‘Isha’ prayers when unidentified motorcyclists opened fire on him, killing him on the spot.
The assailants escaped the scene while his body was shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital in Kohat for an autopsy.
The motive behind the murder could not be ascertained.
Following the incident, the police sealed all exit routes in the city for the arrest of the accused but no arrest made till filing of this report.
Meanwhile, the relatives of the deceased and PML-N activists staged protest against the brazen murder of the councillor and asked the district administration to arrest the accused.