=> PESHAWAR: The police force and CD shops have come
PESHAWAR: The police force and CD shops have come under attack for at least 24 times by a single group during the past year in Mardan district only, sources confided to The News on Tuesday.
The group had been gaining strength throughout the past year. The police authorities and intelligence agencies brought the matter into the notice of the higher authorities time and again, but all in vain.
“Several letters were sent to the higher authorities of the province. They were requested to deploy more force to cope with the situation. The authorities, however, always replied they were short of manpower,” sources disclosed.
“The encounter that took place in Palo Dheri in the jurisdiction of Choora police station was the latest attack from the group on the police force. Earlier, they have successfully managed attacks on police installations in Katlang, Jabbar and Shabaz Garhi,” sources added.
A station house officer and a head constable were among the five people killed in the crossfire in Palo Dheri last Saturday. ASP City Pervez Omrani and Inspector Salim Dad sustained critical bullet injuries in the shootout.
Some of the police officials were of the opinion that the miscreants, who encountered police at Palo Dheri, were proclaimed offenders and not militants. These sources, however, disclosed that one of those killed in the fight was brother of a local commander of the outfit. “They only target police force and CD shops. These people do not commit other crimes,” an official of the Mardan police disclosed. He said the group operating in the district had links with militants in Darra Adamkhel and its men are equipped with rocket launchers, mortars and other sophisticated weapons.
Source: The News
Date:2/6/2008
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