PESHAWAR, Jan 20: The Frontier Corps (FC) has claimed that terrorists killed five family members of a soldier, threw the bodies of militants on a road in Bara, Khyber Agency and orchestrated protest demonstration in Peshawar to win public sympathies.

In a rejoinder issued here on Sunday, FC said that between the night of Monday and Tuesday a fairly large number of terrorists attacked law enforcement agencies’ posts in Bara that resulted in the killing of four FC men and two khasadars.

The rejoinder was issued five days after the incident wherein 18 persons were killed in Alamgodar area of Bara. The residents of the area claimed that the 18 civilians were killed by people in uniform. The incident sparked protests in Khyber Agency and Peshawar.

The FC said that terrorists also suffered heavy casualties in the attack. To avenge their deaths, the terrorists ransacked the house of an FC soldier and killed five of his family members, it claimed.

To stage a drama, the terrorists threw dead bodies including that of their colleagues in parts of Bara and also orchestrated a demonstration in Peshawar, the rejoinder claimed.

The issue, according to the rejoinder, was being exploited by vested interest groups. “The security forces take utmost care to protect lives and properties of people in Bara and other parts of Khyber Agency and shall never indulge in killing of innocent civilians in any case,” it said.

The rejoinder said that the theme used by terrorists should be seen in true prospective. It said that local people should avoid falling into the trap of terrorists, who wanted security forces to leave Bara so that they could hold sway over violence in Peshawar and raise financial stakes through narco mafia, smugglers and abductors.

According to FC, Bara because of its proximity to the provincial metropolis had remained a safe haven for smugglers, adductors and drug dealers. The outlawed militant outfits like Lashkar-i-Islam and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan had gained stranglehold of the area to maintain their finances and unleash terror in Peshawar, it said.

All the violent acts were initiated through thickly populated areas of Bara and the perpetrators sought refuge among the populace. To clear Bara of militants, most of the areas were vacated through political administration and people were accommodated in Jalozai camps to avoid collateral damage, the rejoinder said.

It said that law enforcement agencies had engaged militants actively for the last few months to ensure security of Peshawar. Unfortunately terrorists used civilian population to engage security forces, it added.

“More often terrorists engage and kill local people to scare them away from supporting law enforcement agencies and government authorities,” the rejoinder said, adding that regular killing of Akkakhel and Shalobar peace committees’ members in Bara was a case in point. The limit was crossed when terrorists abducted 22 local Levies (Afridi) personnel from FR Peshawar and summarily executed them, it added.