Four die as van falls into river

CHITRAL, June 5: Four persons died and two sustained injuries when a van carrying passengers from Drosh to the border village of Arandu plunged into the Chitral River near Arandu on Tuesday.

Chitral police termed reckless driving as the reason of the accident.

The dead have been identified as Saeed Ahmed and Abdur Rahman, residents of Arandu, while wife of Ghulam Hazrat is missing along with her eleven-year-old daughter.

Police said hectic efforts were afoot to recover the bodies from the river but the place of accident was said to be too deep which hampered the search and rescue process.

Meanwhile, an Afghan refugee based in Ayun village beat to death one of his two wives and fled to Afghanistan on Tuesday.

An official of Ayun police said the refugee killed his Afghani wife named, Ausia Bibi. Reason for the killing was yet to be ascertained. —Correspondent

Six killed in Swat incidents

MINGORA, June 5: Six people were killed in various incidents in Swat on Tuesday.

Two children, Abna, 4, and Bilal, 2, drowned in a water channel near their house in Bara Banda area of Kabal tehsil. Abna reportedly took Bilal along with her to the water channel but unfortunately the gushing water swept them away. The body of Riaz was fished out but that of girl was yet to be recovered.

A man Najibullah drowned while saving inmates of a car, which plunged into River Swat near Mingora bypass. All the four inmates of the car were rescued. His body was recovered at Odigram.

In the third incident, a man identified as Aslam Khan was electrocuted at a workshop.

In yet another incident, Mohammad Ayaz was killed while his associate Abdul Moneem received multiple wounds when their motorcycle collided head-on with another motorbike in Shamozai area of Swat. A headless body a young girl was recovered in Rahimabad area of Swat. —Correspondent  

Journalist manhandled

KARAK, June 5: A local journalist was allegedly manhandled by an official of the Afghan Commissionerate and his driver near the women and children hospital in Karak city here on Tuesday.

Lodging a complaint with the Karak city police station, general secretary of the Karak Press Club Haleem Bukhari said that he was physically tortured by an official of Afghan Commissionerate Ibrahim Khattak and his driver when he was going on his motorcycle. He alleged that the attackers tried to snatch his camera and mobile phone.

The complainant said the attackers tried to bundle him into their official double-cabin pick-up but he resisted and the accused managed to escape.

Meanwhile, the office-bearers of Karak Press Club during a meeting demanded immediate arrest of the culprits and registration of case against them. —Correspondent  

Bank building be expanded

LAKKI MARWAT, June 5: Residents of Naurang town have demanded of the authorities of National Bank to expand the building of its local branch to accommodate increasing number of customers.

Talking to reporters in Naurang on Tuesday, they said the branch was running in a small hired building on the G.T. road, causing numerous problems for locals especially the government employees and pensioners.

“The building cannot accommodate increasing number of customers,” they complained, saying an additional space was available that could be utilised to expand the building.

Meanwhile, police claimed arresting a militant and four kidnappers during a month-long offensive against criminals’ gangs and anti-social elements in the district.

“Over 500 proclaimed offenders and suspects were also held besides illegal weapons and contrabands were seized from them,” said a police official on Tuesday. He said police backed by Elite Force and Anti-Terror Squad also eliminated hideouts of criminals in different parts. —Correspondent

Two electrocuted

KARAK, June 5: Two persons were electrocuted in separate incidents in Karak district on Tuesday.

Police sources informed that Bahader Sultan, resident of Zebi area of Karak tehsil, was electrocuted when he was fixing an electricity fault at his home.

The sources added that in a similar incident Rab Nawaz, resident of Umber Abad, was electrocuted while fixing a fault in the electronic pump of his tube-well. His body was retrieved from the tube-well after hectic efforts by the locals.

Meanwhile, a young man was hit by a speedy car on the Indus Highway near Babalkhel. He died on the spot. —Correspondent 

18 arrested

PESHAWAR, June 5: Following the complaints of patients and their attendants the district administration on Tuesday arrested 18 people running makeshift restaurants and stalls for selling substandard food items around Hayatabad Medical Complex and Khyber Teaching Hospital.

The people were arrested by police during raids in presence of special magistrate Habibullah Arif. According to a statement issued here the raiding party checked quality and quantity of the food items and weighed the bread and noted that the accused fleeced the consumers with both hands. They were charged under the Food Act by the relevant police stations. —Bureau Report

Anti-polio campaign

PESHAWAR, June 5: The third phase of the eight-day ongoing polio campaign in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under Short Interval Additional Doze (SAID) would end today (Wednesday).DCO Siraj Ahmad Khan visited major hospitals of the city, including Hayatabad Medical Complex, Sabah Shaheed Hospital and Leady Reading Hospital, and directed the workers to demonstrate professional exuberance in the duties for deriving the desired results.

He also visited Watan Card registration centre at Tehman Football Stadium and polio vaccination centre at the motorway to check the arrangements for the immunisation campaign.

He directed vaccination staff to specially supervise the vaccination of children of the IDP families of Khyber Agency.—APP