Firing injures assistant commissioner in Upper Kurram: hospital official
Kurram Assistant Commissioner (Revenue) Saeed Manan Khan was injured in a firing incident in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Upper Kurram tehsil on Friday, a hospital official said.
According to Dr Mir Hassan Jan, medical superintendent at the Parachinar District Headquarters Hospital, the firing incident occurred in the Boshehra area of Upper Kurram.
“The Kurram AC was visiting the Boshehra area for [implementing] the ceasefire and was accompanied by police,” Dr Jan told Dawn.com.
Shafique Hussain, a leader of the Turi tribe, told Dawn.com that he was accompanying AC Manan and they were “busy in implementing the ceasefire” when the incident occurred.
AC Manan was then taken to the DHQ hospital and was undergoing an operation, Hussain added. He further said that three more individuals were injured in the firing.
After an attack on a convoy in Lower Kurram’s Bagan area killed over 40 people in November, ensuing clashes stemming from decades-old land disputes claimed at least 130 more lives.
The volatile security situation led to the closure of a main road for weeks, resulting in a shortage of essential goods and medicines in Upper Kurram’s Parachinar. While a ceasefire deal was signed between warring tribes on January 1, attacks on a government convoy and an aid convoy this month put peace in peril.
On January 4, a government convoy was attacked near Bagan, injuring former DC Javedullah Mehsud and leaving the convoy stranded.
In a January 16 attack on a convoy in Lower Kurram’s Bagan area, two security officials were martyred and five others injured. Retaliatory action by security forces left six attackers dead and 10 injured.
While police recovered the bodies of four drivers with their hands tied, five were still missing. Sources said that out of 35 trucks in the convoy, only two made it back to Thall, while more than 10 trucks were looted and set ablaze.
In response, authorities launched a limited “counter-terrorism operation” in the Lower Kurram tehsil on January 19, which used gunship helicopters and concluded after four days.
The KP government has vowed to take “indiscriminate action” against perpetrators of violence in the district, deciding to arrest elements disrupting peace, as well as their facilitators.
Under the 14-point ceasefire, a total of 16 illegal bunkers have been destroyed so far in various areas of Lower Kurram.
Despite the peace agreement, the main transportation routes in Kurram have been closed for four months, paralysing life for the local population. So far, six aid convoys carrying essential supplies and medicines have reached the district.
This is a developing story that is being updated as the situation evolves. Initial reports in the media can sometimes be inaccurate. We will strive to ensure timeliness and accuracy by relying on credible sources, such as concerned, qualified authorities and our staff reporters.