Constable killed after abduction by unidentified assailants in KP’s Bajaur: police

BAJAUR: A policeman was killed after being abducted by unidentified assailants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur district on Friday, officials said.

The officials told Dawn that the police constable was abducted by unidentified armed men on Thursday in the Asil Targaoo area of Barang tehsil while he was on the way to his post in Sindh Gara.

According to a report from the Barang police station, his body was found on a mountain in Asil Targaoo along the Bajaur-Mohmand border on Friday morning.

The police report, a copy of which is available with Dawn, stated that after receiving information from local residents about the abducted policeman’s body, a police team rushed to the area along with a group of locals. The body was shifted to a local hospital for a postmortem examination.

The report added that the 50-year-old constable was also brutally tortured, with several signs of physical abuse visible on different parts of his body.

The district police spokesperson, Israr Khan, confirmed the incident and told Dawn that the postmortem report also confirmed that the cop’s body bore multiple marks of violence.

He added that the policeman’s body was taken to his hometown for burial after official funeral prayers attended by scores of people, including senior police officials.

The spokesman added that an investigation had been launched to identify those involved in the incident and determine the motive behind it. A case had also been registered against the unidentified assailants.

No one has claimed responsibility for the incident, which has sparked condemnation and concern among local residents, as Barang tehsil was considered one of the safest areas in the district.

There has been a resurgence in terrorism in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly urged Taliban to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil, particularly those linked to the banned TTP. Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded.

On Thursday evening, two children were killed and four others injured during an exchange of fire between security forces and militants in Bajaur.

Two people, including a social activist, were killed in separate attacks in Bajaur on Sunday, both carried out by unidentified assailants.

Last month, two children and a woman were killed while three others were injured when mortar shells fired from across the Afghan border hit a house in the Kitkot village in the same district.