Three FC personnel martyred in attack on ambulance in KP’s Karak district

PESHAWAR:

Three Federal Constabulary (FC) personnel were martyred on Monday after terrorists attacked a fort in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Karak district, according to the police.

Karak District Police Officer (DPO) Saud Khan said terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), referred as “Fitna al-Khawarij”, targeted an FC fort near the Dargah Shaheedan area in Bahadar Khel, within the jurisdiction of Khurram Muhammad Zai Police Station, with a drone strike.

“The injured personnel were being taken to the hospital when terrorists launched a second attack on the ambulances en route,” the DPO said, adding that three personnel were martyred in the assault and the attackers set the ambulances ablaze with the wounded inside.

He said the assailants also targeted Rescue 1122 staff during the incident, adding that injured resuce officials were taken to Khalifa Gul Nawaz Hospital in Bannu for medical treatment.

DPO Khan said security forces launched a search operation in the area following the attacks and had since cleared the vicinity.

President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the incident while paying tribute to the martyrs.

“Cowardly acts such as firing on an ambulance cannot shake the national resolve,” he said.

K-P Chief Minister Sohail Afridi also strongly condemned the incident in a statement.

“The sacrifices of the martyrs will not go in vain.  Establishing law and order is a common challenge for the entire country,” he said. The chief minister also ordered the provision of immediate and the best medical aid and facilities to the injured.

Similarly, K-P Governor Faisal Karim Kundi said: “The incident is a very sad and cowardly act against humanity. I salute the brave sons who sacrificed their precious lives against terrorism. The sacrifices of martyrs for the establishment of peace in the province will not go in vain.”

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari described the incident as an “extremely cowardly and inhumane act”.

“Those who opened fire on the ambulance carrying the wounded had proven that they reject Islamic teachings,” Bilawal said.

The PPP chairman paid tribute to the personnel who were martyred in the attack on the ambulance.

K-P has seen a spike in terrorists activites with two Pakistani security personnel, including Lt Col Shahzada Gul Faraz and Sepoy Karamat Shah, martyred on Saturday during a counter-terror operation in Bannu district.

A day after, two terrorists, including a detained commander, were killed when the outlaws attacked a Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) vehicle in a bid to free their chief in Bannu district.

Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry previously said that 80 per cent of all terrorist incidents in the country had occurred in K-P. He had attributed the trend to what he described as a ‘politically permissive environment’ for terrorists and an emerging ‘nexus between political and terrorist elements’ in the province.