Terrorists attacked the Hangu police post at Shalmas Pir Ziarat on Sunday night, martyring a police constable and abducting three personnel.
The Hangu police post sits on Shah Almas Pir Mountain. Hangu District Police Officer Salahuddin Kundi said on Monday the attackers had taken the three abducted personnel towards Khanano Kot in the Samana mountain range.
A heavy contingent of police and security forces reached the scene, where they exchanged fire with the attackers, Tribune reported. Police later regained control of the post and launched a pursuit operation against the attackers, the DPO said.
The martyred constable was Feroz Ali. His funeral prayers were offered with full state honours at the Police Lines in Hangu. DPO Kundi attended the funeral with police and security forces officers and personnel. He and other officials laid floral wreaths on the coffin and paid tribute to the constable’s sacrifice.
After the funeral prayers, the martyred constable’s body was taken with full state honours to his native village of Ibrahimzai.
The Hangu police post attack in context
The Hangu attack is the latest in a series of attacks on police personnel in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in recent months, and the pattern is now hard to ignore.
On October 8, armed men opened fire on a police patrol near the Karak-Kohat boundary, martyring Station House Officer Daud Khan and his gunman Farhad.
Earlier, on September 28, unidentified gunmen attacked a vehicle in Tank district, killing three traffic police personnel.
On September 25, Counter-Terrorism Department Constable Muhammad Afaq was martyred and three other personnel were injured during an intelligence-based operation against suspected suicide attackers in Peshawar’s Garhi Sherdad area.
One of the deadliest recent attacks came on September 18, when a blast followed by an assault at Kohat Police Lines killed 15 police personnel among 23 people. Eight attackers were killed in the clearance operation that followed.
The toll on the province’s forces underlines why the attacks keep coming. In the past two years, terrorism-related violence in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has killed 1,003 soldiers, 627 police officers and 808 civilians, while security forces killed 3,788 terrorists in the same period, according to figures shared at a briefing in Peshawar.
The run of attacks explains why the province is pouring resources into its police, with new funding for hiring, better surveillance and stronger protection for officers on duty across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa plans to spend Rs70 billion on its police and counterterrorism force, and five terrorists were killed in two operations by the Counter-Terrorism Department in Bannu. An operation in Lakki Marwat left two dead and one hurt, while two policemen were killed in an attack on a polio team in Mohmand. A constable from Shangla was martyred in an IED blast in a separate incident.
What happens next
Police and security forces are pursuing the attackers in the Samana mountains, where the three abducted personnel were taken. The search will focus on Khanano Kot and the surrounding range, while police work to trace the group behind the attack on the post.
Frequently asked questions
What happened at the Hangu police post?
Terrorists attacked the Shalmas Pir Ziarat police post in Hangu on Sunday night. Constable Feroz Ali was martyred and three personnel were abducted.
Where were the abducted personnel taken?
The attackers took the three personnel towards Khanano Kot in the Samana mountain range, according to Hangu District Police Officer Salahuddin Kundi.
Did police regain control of the post?
Yes. A heavy contingent of police and security forces reached the scene, exchanged fire with the attackers and later regained control of the post on Shah Almas Pir Mountain.
Who was the martyred constable?
The martyred constable was Feroz Ali. His funeral prayers were offered with full state honours at the Police Lines in Hangu, and his body was taken to his native village of Ibrahimzai.
How many police have been killed in recent Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa attacks?
Fifteen police personnel were killed in the September 18 attack on Kohat Police Lines alone, and several officers have been martyred in separate attacks in Karak, Tank, Peshawar and Hangu since then.
