Eleven killed in Hangu van attack
The attack is the first major incident since the reopening of the Thall-Parachinar Road. PHOTO: FILE
At least 11 people, including three militants and eight passengers, were killed in an attack on a passenger vehicle in Hangu district on Sunday, according to police reports. The attack came barely a month after the reopening of Thall-Parachinar Road, after years of blockade in the highly volatile Kurram Agency.
Hangu district police chief Abdur Rashid Khan told The Express Tribune that at least eight passengers were killed and seven others were injured when suspected militants ambushed a passenger van, which was going to Kohat from the Kurram Agency, around 10:15 am. Khan further confirmed that local police also reached the scene where an exchange of fire resulted in the death of three militants.
Local sources told The Express Tribune that the attack took place approximately 40 kilometres west of the Hangu city in the Mamu Khwar area within the Doaba police station limits. The incident was termed a sectarian attack by locals, as most of those killed and injured were Shia Muslims.
Two Kalashnikovs and a rifle were seized from the possession of the militants. It has yet to be confirmed if there were only three militants, or more who fled the scene.
The attack was the first major incident since warring sects of the Kurram Agency agreed to open the closed road last month.
The road opening brought respite to a region where roads have remained closed for almost three years and locals had no choice but to travel to Afghanistan to reach Peshawar. Hangu district situated in the southern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has been in the grip of Taliban violence for the past few years.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 14th, 2011.
SOURCE: http://tribune.com.pk/story/132299/eleven-killed-in-hangu-van-attack/
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