Security forces kill mastermind of Hangu police checkpost attack: sources

Security forces have killed the mastermind behind the July 30 attack on a police checkpost in Hangu, which claimed the lives of nine police officials, a senior security official told Dawn on Sunday. Security sources said the slain terrorist was identified as Amir Mauviya, and he was killed during an intelligence-based operation in Hangu’s Chapri Naryab. According to the sources, the slain terrorist held an important position among Fitna-al-Khawarij in Kurram, and was wanted in several other terrorism cases. Fitna-al-Khawarij is a term the state uses for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. The sources added that under Operation 11 Garaj, operations against terrorists had been intensified. The attack on the Khazina Banda checkpost had claimed the lives of nine police personnel, including a deputy superintendent of police, and left 28 injured. Police officials said an exchange of fire had broken out after the terrorists attacked the checkpost, and 15 terrorists were killed in retaliatory action. More recently, two police personnel sustained minor injuries in an improvised explosive device explosion targeting a police van near Pir Zakorhi Bridge near the Peshawar-Islamabad motorway toll plaza on Sunday. On July 29, a policeman was martyred and four terrorists were killed during an operation in Swat’s Matta tehsil, police and security sources said. It was merely five days after a terrorist attack on a joint police checkpost in KP’s Tank district martyred 15 people, including 14 security personnel. Among those martyred were 12 soldiers, two policemen and a government official, the military’s media affairs wing said. It added that the attackers attempted to breach the checkpost’s perimeter, but their attempts were “swiftly and decisively foiled” by security forces, who eliminated 12 terrorists. Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) said the attackers then rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the perimeter wall and infrastructure at the checkpost was seriously damaged by the impact of the resulting blast. Security personnel and law enforcers have been coming under attack in KP, which continues to face terrorism. According to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies’ (PICSS) monthly security assessment released on Saturday, Security personnel deaths in terrorism incidents in KP, excluding merged districts, increased from 12 in June to 38 in July and terrorist deaths from 37 to 108, reflecting a rise by 192pc. But civilian deaths fell from 26 to seven, a decline by 73pc. One peace committee member was also killed. Security personnel deaths in merged districts rose from six to 11 and terrorist deaths fell from 72 to 55. Civilian deaths, meanwhile, rose by 86pc, increasing from seven to 13.