By Staff Reporter
PESHAWAR: Security forces killed at least seven militants in a drone strike targeting a weapon-laden vehicle in the northwestern district of Bannu on Friday, as unidentified gunmen separately shot dead four people inside an ambulance in the same district overnight, police and security officials said.
The twin incidents underscored the deteriorating security situation in Bannu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan and has been battered by a sustained surge in militant violence in recent months.
In the first operation, security forces acting on intelligence about suspicious militant movement targeted a vehicle parked near a government school in the Ghora Baka Khel area of Baka Khel tehsil, striking it with a quadcopter drone, security sources said.
The vehicle was carrying a heavy cache of arms, including a 12.7-millimetre anti-aircraft machine gun, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells. The strike triggered a massive explosion that destroyed the vehicle, killing all occupants — estimated at seven to eight militants — on the spot, the sources said.
“A search and clearance operation is currently underway in the area due to possible security threats, while further investigations are also in progress,” a security source said.
Separately, police said four people were found shot dead inside an ambulance on the CPEC Circular Road in Bannu in what officials believe was an attack carried out on Thursday night. The victims, described as appearing to be middle-aged men, bore bullet wounds.
Muhammad Bilal, the in-charge of Mirakhel police station, said unidentified armed men had opened fire on the ambulance, killing all four occupants on the spot. The bodies were transferred to the District Headquarters Hospital in Bannu for medico-legal examination.
No group claimed responsibility for the ambulance attack. Police registered a case against unidentified assailants and launched an investigation. “The motive behind the attack is yet to be determined,” an official said.
Bannu has seen a sharp escalation in violence targeting both civilians and security forces. Last week, twin explosions in Marka Bera, a semi-tribal mountainous area in the district’s Wazir sub-division, killed seven people and wounded three others. On June 13, suspected militants used explosives to partially destroy the Teri Ram Bridge on the district’s Miryan Road.
On Wednesday, militants used a drone to drop two explosive devices on the Haved police station compound, wounding two Frontier Corps personnel. Earlier this month, an alleged militant commander and two other individuals were killed in separate incidents in the district, while militants also attempted to destroy a key road bridge.
Last month, at least two police personnel and as many civilians were killed, while 25 militants died in a fierce engagement between security forces, a local peace committee and armed groups. On June 18, community elders convened a jirga demanding the government take urgent steps to eradicate militancy from the region.
Pakistan blames the surge in militant activity in its western regions on armed groups operating out of Afghanistan, an allegation Kabul denies. The dispute has strained relations between Islamabad and Kabul and contributed to fierce clashes along the border since February.
Meanwhile, an airport security officer abducted by armed men last month on a highway in Balochistan was found dead on Wednesday night, his body showing signs of torture, police said.
Muhammad Waseem, 58, a member of the Airport Security Force (ASF) from the southern port city of Karachi, was seized on May 20 while travelling to Quetta from his hometown along the Quetta-Karachi highway. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a banned separatist organisation, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, which took place in Muhammad Tawa, a mountainous area of Kalat district.
“The tortured body of Waseem was found on Wednesday night around eight kilometres from Kalat city,” said Munir Mengal, the in-charge of Kalat police station. “Unknown people tortured and killed the kidnapped ASF officer and dumped his body in a desolate mountainous area.”
His remains were subsequently transported to Karachi for burial, Mengal said.
The killing is the latest in a long line of attacks on security personnel and non-native Pakistanis in Balochistan, where a long-running insurgency has driven persistent violence. The province has repeatedly been the scene of kidnappings targeting foreigners, workers on infrastructure projects and people from other parts of Pakistan.
Last month, four staff members of the University of Gwadar — including its vice chancellor — were abducted from the province’s Mastung district by unidentified men before being released by their captors.
The BLA has been blamed for numerous high-profile attacks in Balochistan, including strikes on Chinese nationals working on infrastructure projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Islamabad has designated it a terrorist organisation.
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