ISLAMABAD: On the third anniversary of the terrorist attack at Kamra air base, which is located in Attock district, the terrorists carried out another attack in the district – though this time around the target was a politician, Punjab’s home minister Shuja Khanzada.

The terrorists had launched an attack at Kamra air base from a remote village near the base in the early hours of August 16, 2013, which too was not the first terrorist attack in the district.

District Attock has seen a number of attacks as well as cases of target killings in the last one decade.

The Sunday attack also killed DSP Hazro Shaukat Shah, who had been critical of the alignment between criminals and the religious elements in ‘Chach’ area, which comprises mainly the Hazro tehsil of Attock district.

Exactly three years ago, the Kamra air base had been attacked

In October 2014, the late DSP Shaukat Shah had expressed concerns over isolated target killings, arguing that these killings proved that terrorists were present in the area.

He had said this after the killing of Latif Aalam Butt, a retired air force official who was an Ahmedi. Butt was killed near his house in a civilian residential colony outside the Kamra air base, district Attock.

A month earlier in September 2014, just two lanes away from the site a retired army personnel Sajjad Haider, who belonged to the Shia community, was also killed in a targeted attack.

Meanwhile, a colleague of Shaukat Shah, another DSP of the Punjab police, said that the Sunday attack was linked to the ongoing operations against terrorists in Punjab.

“The attack is aimed at pressurising the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab,” the police officer added, who was affiliated with a team that is investigating a sectarian attack in Attock district.

He highlighted that there were around 370 madressahs in Hazro tehsil.

Analysts are also of the opinion that Attock is home to extremist elements.

“Major terror attacks in Northern Punjab have been linked to people from the Attock area,” said Amir Mir, director at Pakistan Institute of Policy Studies (PIPS).

He said that, “A serious security audit is needed in Attock and Taxila region, which is not only very close to the federal capital, but also house sensitive installations.”

The first major attack in Attock was reported in April 2000, when 17 people killed in an attack on a Majlis in Malohwali village, Attock district.

The attackers were local clerics belonging to a seminary in the same village.

In 2004, former prime minister Shaukat Aziz too faced a suicide bomb attack during his election campaign in Fatehjang area of Attock district.

Though Mr Aziz survived, the attack claimed nine lives including that of his driver.

The last major terrorist attack took place in August 2012 when militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons attacked Minhas base, at Kamra. All the eight militants were killed, while one soldier lost his life; in addition there was significant material loss to the air force.

Two years later in June 2014, a suicide bomber killed two colonels of the Pakistan army near Tarnol.

This location fell in the Fatehjang tehsil of Attock. These officers were posted in a sensitive installation in Attock.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2015

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