SWABI, Aug 16: Two policemen and a detainee were killed and three others sustained injuries when suspected militants ambushed a police van here in the wee hours of Friday.

A mobile van of Parmuli police station (Razaar tehsil) was on a routine patrol past Thursday midnight when suspected militants opened fire on the vehicle near Shewa graveyard.

As a result, constable Jamil Said and Mansoor Khan – a resident of Ghulama village who was just arrested in an aerial firing case – were killed on the spot, while ASI Mairaj Khan, constables Sardar Khan and Sultan Khan and driver Riffat Ali received bullet injuries. ASI Mairaj succumbed to his wounds while the injured were being shifted to district headquarters hospital, Swabi.

The attackers escaped after the incident.

Mr Mairaj belonged to Utla village of mountainous area of Gadoon Amazai belt. Doctors at the DHQ hospital said that the injured constables and driver were in stable condition.

On the complaint of injured policemen, local police have registered an FIR against the unknown militants and started investigations.

District police officer Mian Mohammad Saeed told Dawn that soon after the incident they launched a search operation in the area.

“Three police teams are conducting intelligence-based operation in the area,” he said.

“A few proclaimed offenders have declared themselves self-proclaimed militants. The police know about them and their past record. We conducted an operation against them in Ramazan and after that they declared that would take the revenge,” said the DPO.

Meanwhile, the slain ASI and constable were laid to rest at their ancestral graveyards in Utla and Hamza Dher villages, respectively. Police officers, political activists and local people attended the funeral prayers.

The incident occurred in the area where Swabi city police station SHO and his two guards were injured in an attack with improvised explosive device on June 29.