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Nine turbans banged near Peshawar
 Nine members of a Bara-based militant group were killed in an encounter with the police and the Qaumi Lashkar comprising armed villagers when they allegedly attempted to kidnap the Nazim of Bazidkhel union council near here on Wednesday morning.Three policemen sustained injuries in the first incident of its kind in which the police and villagers joined hands to take on the extremists operating in Peshawar.Police and villagers told The News that members of the Mangal Bagh-led Lashkar-e-Islam entered the Bazidkhel village in two cars and a motorbike in a bid to kidnap Faheem, the Nazim of the local union council. As villagers and cops were already on alert, an encounter took place, which left seven attackers dead.A source said two more militants were killed near Badaber when they were fleeing on a motorcycle. Another source said nine were killed but two others managed to escape. The bodies were later shifted to Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines in Peshawar for identification. The dead were identified as Saif, Jamshed, Wakil, Jehanzeb, Tariq, Sher Gul, Abdul Haq, Zahid and Wilayat. All of them were sporting long beards and hair, the typical style of militants operating in the tribal areas and around Peshawar. "One of the attackers in his dying declaration said that they had been sent by Mangal Bagh to kidnap Faheem," a source told The News. Meanwhile, Lashkar-e-Islam chief Mangal Bagh threatened the Bazidkhel villagers with reprisals if found to be involved in killing nine of his men. Speaking on his illegal FM Radio channel on Wednesday night, he argued that 13 of his men had gone to Bazidkhel to offer Fateha and condolences to someone in the village when they were attacked and nine of them were killed. He demanded that those villagers who weren't part of the Lashkar should hoist black flags on their houses. He said their failure to fly black flags would be evidence that they were part of the Lashkar and, therefore, killers of the nine Lashkar-e-Islam members. Apart from heavy contingents of the police and the Frontier Constabulary that were rushed from across the provincial capital to Bazidkhel, a large number of armed people from the nearby villages also reached the village to tackle the militants and let them know that they would no more be tolerated. Police and the the FC carried out a search operation in Bazidkhel and nearby towns after the incident. The busy Badaber bazaar was deserted when shopkeepers downed their shutters after rumours that militants were planning to attack the Badaber police station. Earlier, a spokesman for the Lashkar-e-Islam denied that the slain men wanted to attack the Badaber police station. However, spokesman Misri Khan conceded that their men were on their way to Bazidkhel to take action against some criminals and elements opposed to their organisation. "Ours is a peaceful organisation that never attacked the security forces and the police. Had they gone there to attack the Badaber police, they would have first attacked Hayatabad and Sarband police stations," he claimed. The spokesman alleged that their men were stopped at the FC check-post, arrested and later killed by the cops and criminals from Bazidkhel. "We are aware of all those who are behind this act," he added. However, the Inspector General of Police, NWFP, Malik Naveed Khan, contended that the attackers were from Lashkar-e-Islam. "Peshawar is safe. We will continue to take action against extremists," pledged the provincial police chief. A series of meetings of the elders of Matani, Badaber, Adezai, Bazidkhel, Sheikh Mohammadi, Mashokhel, Mashogagar, Shahabkhel, Ahcar, Bahadar Killay and several other villages was held recently that decided to raise Lashkars to take on the militants and criminals, patrol the area and prevent kidnappings. "The government should come up with a clear-cut policy on eliminating these elements. This is the issue of our survival and that is why we have stood up," union council Nazim Faheem told reporters. Posted by: Fred 2009-02-05 |
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