Security beefed up 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.

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.