Security upgraded in Peshawar, other parts of KP

PESHAWAR: Security has been upgraded in the provincial capital and other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after a series of terrorist attacks in the last few days.

Also, an alleged terrorist was killed during an encounter in the Akhurwal area near the Fata University after a grenade attack on a police party in Badaber, officials said on Wednesday.

An official said the local police and the Counter-Terrorism Department were carrying out a search operation after the attack on the police party in Badaber when an encounter took place with alleged terrorists in the Akhurwal area near Matani at around 4:30 am.

The official said a senior IS KP commander Bilal alias Maulvi Ubaid was killed in the encounter. He said the deceased was carrying Rs 5 million head money and was also wanted in the killing of Superintendent of Police Khurshid Khan. An official said police have been alerted in Peshawar and other districts after an increase in attacks on police and others.

The cops have been directed to check suspicious movement at all the entry points to the cities.

Besides, intelligence-based search and strike operations have been increased to check suspicious people in the cities and suburbs.

“Police have enhanced intelligence coordination with allied agencies while suspects, who may be facilitating such elements, are being checked. Police also conducted hot-spotting of areas, where such incidents are happening and where the presence of such elements is suspected for search operations,” Capital City Police Officer Abbas Ahsan told.

In most of the terrorist incidents in the last few months, police remained the prime target. There was no major bombing but the attackers either used automatic weapons or hurled hand grenades in these incidents.

In the recent incidents, the Peshawar Police came under attack in two separate incidents in Hayatabad and Badaber within a few hours on Tuesday. A sub-inspector and two constables were wounded when a police patrolling car was attacked with a hand grenade in Badaber.

A couple of hours before the incident, a grenade was hurled at a police building in Industrial Estate in Hayatabad. No casualty was reported in the attack as there was no one present there.

The same day, police was attacked in Dera Ismail Khan and Lower Dir. A levies personnel was martyred and a policeman was injured in an attack in Lower Dir.

Officials said one attacker was also killed in the exchange of fire. Also, armed men attacked a police patrol car in Dera Ismail Khan but no casualty was reported.

A day earlier, a policeman was martyred in an attack in North Waziristan. Many attacks were reported in different parts of the province in the last few weeks after which security has been heightened and cops have been directed to remain alert.

A gradual surge was being witnessed in attacks on police in the provincial capital over the last few months, setting the alarm bells ringing for the top cops.

In many districts, cops have been directed to remain alert as well as wear bulletproof jacket and helmets during duty. They were also directed to wear civvies instead of uniforms while coming to the office or going back home and remain vigilant.

As many as 48 policemen were martyred and 44 others sustained injuries in different attacks and encounters across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during 2021. The attacks on police had witnessed a decrease in the last few years compared to 2009, 2010. Nine policemen have sacrificed lives and two others sustained injuries while protecting the polio teams in the last few weeks.

Two of them were martyred in Peshawar, Mardan, Tank and Dera Ismail Khan while one was martyred in Kohat. At least seven other policemen, including one inspector and three assistant sub-inspectors, were martyred when they came under attack in Peshawar in the last few months after an increase in target killing of policemen.

Police officials have said that a major group involved in attacks on police as well as a Sikh elder has been busted and other cases will be worked out soon.

Apart from cops, a known religious scholar Sheikh Abdul Hameed Rahmati was martyred and his brother and two passers-by were wounded in the attack by armed men in Peshawar last week.