TANK: Two security personnel were martyred when armed men attacked them shortly before Friday prayers in the Manjhi bazaar area of Tank city, officials said.

In another incident, six policemen and a passer-by suffered shrapnel injuries when a suspected militant detonated a hand-grenade. The suspect died in the explosion.

The officials said that Mohsin and Yasin were going from the Manjhi FC check-post to a mosque to offer Friday prayers when armed men targeted them. They died on the spot. The assailants fled the area after the incident.

In the other incident, law-enforcement agency personnel asked the suspected militant, Mohammad Naseem, to surrender but he detonated the hand-grenade he carried, killing himself by the impact of the blast.

Shrapnel hit six policemen, including SHO Inayatullah of Gomal police station, and a passer-by, leaving them injured.

The injured policemen included Havaldar Mohammad Shafiq, Kausar Khan, Umar Khitab, Amir Naveed and Said Rehman, while the passer-by was identified as Habibullah. They were taken to the district headquarters hospital in Tank, from where one of the injured men was referred to a hospital in Dera Ismail Khan because of his precarious condition.

The police and security forces cordoned off the area soon after the attacks and launched a search operation to track down the assailants.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2019