PESHAWAR, Oct 17: Police on Wednesday evening repulsed a militant attack on their checkpost in Mashogagar area on the outskirts of Peshawar.

An official of Badbher police station said several militants armed with rocket launchers and Kalashnikovs attacked the post but they had to flee after police opened fire on them.

He said militants came to the post from the nearby Khyber Agency.

According to him, it was the second militant attack in the area over one week.

Militants had beheaded SP (rural) Khurshid Khan during an attack on Ghaziabad police post on Sunday night.

Ghaziabad is a few kilometres from Mashogagar area.

The official said a platoon of Frontier Constabulary and 16 policemen had been deployed to Mashogagar police post and they were equipped with light and heavy weapons.

Deputy chief of Adezai Qaumi Lashkar Fazal Malik claimed that to the best of his information, all militants, who belonged to Peshawar, had returned.

He said some militants were identified as Aurangzeb alias Naray and Jangriz alias Jamil. “They (attackers) belonged to Peshawar but shifted to tribal regions with families after security forces destroyed their houses a few years ago,” he said.Mr Malik said militants had been threatening him for many days over support to police.

He said peace volunteers would support police whenever they were asked to.

According to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa senior minister Bashir Bilour, the government has decided to launch a ‘clean-up operation’ against militants on the outskirts of Peshawar.

He, however, didn’t set any deadline for it.

When contacted, the relevant DSP, Fazal Wahid Khan, said militants had entered the Mashogagar area but failed to destroy the police post.

“We made them escape,” he said.

Mr Khan said there was no progress in the investigation into the Ghaziabad police post attack.