KARACHI: Separate gunfights in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Punjab on Saturday and Sunday resulted in the deaths of at least sixteen terrorists and the martyrdom of four law enforcement officers, including two army personnel.
Five militants were killed and nine others were injured in an intelligence-based operation in the Bannu district’s Baka Khel area. Iftikhar Hussain, a 29-year-old Sepoy from Jhang, accepted martyrdom during the gunfight.
In another operation, security forces killed three terrorists and arrested two others in the Shagai region of district Khyber, according to a statement from Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
As he led his troops from the front during the fierce firefight, 25-year-old Captain Muhammad Zohaibuddin of the Lahore area fought valiantly, gave his life, and accepted shahadat [martyrdom], according to the military’s media wing.
According to local sources from the Khyber district, journalist Khalil Jibran was assassinated in June of this year by one of the assailants killed during the gunfight with security personnel in Khyber.
Cop martyred
In the meantime, a police officer accepted death during a gunfight with armed attackers who stormed a police station in the Lakki Marwat district’s Darra Pezu town.
A police station in a crowded part of the town was the target of a two-pronged nighttime attack by a group of terrorists, according to a police official. When the terrorists attempted to enter the building with automatic weapons, they were thwarted.
According to the official, “the policemen deployed there effectively engaged the terrorists and the gun battle continued for nearly one hour.” A policeman named Kiramatullah was martyred as a result of the intense conflict. After completing medico-legal procedures at the District Headquarters Hospital, the body was brought to police lines for funeral prayers.
Mianwali killed four people.
In a separate incident, the Mianwali police killed four militants during a shootout after repelling an attempt on the Chapri police station in Punjab.
Up to 20 terrorists carrying hand grenades and rocket launchers attacked the police station, according to a Punjab police statement.
But after an hour of battling, the cops repelled them. During the attack, two police officers were hurt.
According to the statement, authorities searched the area after the attack was stopped and discovered four dead bodies. Since 2009, militants have attacked eight police officers in the district, all of them in the Isakhel tehsil.
ASI was martyred.
Unknown persons attacked a Paharpur police van in Mardan Pul on Sunday night, resulting in the martyrdom of one officer and the wounding of two others.
Police say two other officers, constables Rauf and Yousuf, were hurt, but Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Mir Ghulam Marwat accepted martyrdom.
The injured and dead were taken right away to the Paharpur Tehsil Headquarters Hospital.
The injured were moved to the District Headquarters Teaching Hospital in D.I. Khan because of their grave condition.
In a separate incident, police reported that one officer was hurt when unknown individuals opened fire on a police checkpoint in the Sur Dagar neighborhood of the amalgamated tribal tehsil Darazinda on Sunday evening.
In Sherani, four people were slain.
Separately, a gunfight with security personnel in the Sherani district on Sunday resulted in the deaths of four suspected terrorists and the injuries of numerous more.
Officials claimed security forces initiated an operation in the Mughal Kot region of Sherani on intelligence regarding the presence of armed militants. In the subsequent gunfight, four suspects were dead.
According to officials, “the bodies of the militants killed in the operation were shifted to a nearby health facility.” The terrorists reportedly came from Afghanistan and were members of a banned group.
