DERA ISMAIL KHAN:
Five people were found shot dead on Saturday in a village near Dera Ismail Khan, the police reported.
Local residents initially found four bodies. However, another victim was discovered as investigation progressed. The individuals were found dead in the village of Hurmaz within the jurisdiction of Mir Ali police station.
The identities of four deceased remain unknown, while a fifth was identified as Arif, resident of Karak.
The police reported that all the deceased had been shot and killed.
According to the police, the victims appeared to be non-locals, and were riding on two separate trucks. One had foams mattresses while the other was a vegetable truck.
The incident comes days after six non-local young barbers were killed in an incident of sinister violence that seeks to capitalise on ethnic faultlines in North Waziristan tribal district.
The bodies of the six men were discovered in the fields of Moski village, located in Mir Ali. Preliminary investigation suggests that the victims, all of whom hailed from Punjab, were shot dead execution style.
The victims, all below 30 years of age, included two youths less than 18 years old, hence without national identity cards (NICs). All of them were barbers, having recently migrated to North Waziristan to pursue their trade. Sources reveal that the victims owned barber shops in Mir Ali Bazaar.
According to sources, the barbers were reported to have been kidnapped before meeting their tragic end. They were abducted under the cloak of darkness and subsequently murdered by unidentified assailants. It was not until morning that the bodies were spotted by locals in the fields, who immediately alerted the law enforcers. The bodies were shifted to Mir Ali Hospital for medico-legal formalities.
For a separate incident, police told The Express Tribune that unidentified miscreants opened fire on Constable Jan Alam outside a bank in Mir Ali tehsil of North Waziristan.
He said that the unfortunate constable was there to withdraw his salary and was targeted on his way back home. His body was rushed to the District Headquarters Hospital Mir Ali where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.
“He was a resident of Hurmaz village and the attackers once again managed to escape unchallenged after committing the crime,” said the official of the local police station, adding a large contingent of police reached there and launched a door-to-door search operation but there was no trace of the attackers.
Police registered an FIR and opened investigation in the case.
Police said that it was without any doubt a case of terrorism as the cop had no personal feud with anyone.
