AdSense Advertisement

Four Peace Committee Member Killed in Militant Attack in Northwestern Pakistan

File Photo

By The South Asia Times

PESHAWAR - At least four peace committee members were killed in a terrorist attack in northwestern Pakistan, police said Tuesday, after gunmen opened fire on a vehicle in the Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The attack took place in the Gulbadin Landi Dak area of Bannu, where unidentified assailants targeted a car carrying members of a local peace committee, according to police.

“Four people traveling in the vehicle were killed in the attack including a father and his son ,” a police official said.

Authorities said peace committee members in the region have repeatedly been targeted for their role in supporting local security efforts and discouraging militant activity.

Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi later condemned the attack, expressing grief over the deaths and offering condolences to the victims’ families.

In a statement, he said every attempt to sabotage peace in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be thwarted and that such “cowardly acts” would not weaken the nation’s resolve against terrorism.

The latest killings come amid a surge in violence across southern districts of the province. In November last year, seven peace committee members were killed when militants attacked their office in Bannu. On Monday, six police officers, including a station house officer, were killed and three others injured in two separate bomb blasts in the neighboring Tank and Lakki Marwat districts.

Security officials say areas including Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Tank, Dera Ismail Khan, and North and South Waziristan have seen a rise in attacks in recent months, with police and security forces frequently targeted.