BAJAUR: A prayer leader was seriously injured when unknown assailants opened fire at him in Bajaur tribal district here on Friday, the police and local residents said.

They said that the incident occurred in Inayat Kallay Bazaar near the Bypass Road after Friday prayers.

“The deceased, Zainul Abideen was coming out of a mosque when someone started firing at him,” a police official said while quoting the witnesses as saying.

He said that the deceased, 43, who belonged to Mamond tehsil, was critically injured in the attack.

The police official said that the injured was taken to the District Headquarters Hospital, Khar, where doctors referred him to a hospital in Peshawar owing to his precious condition.

The residents said that the people involved in the attack fled the scene soon after the incident. No one claimed responsibility for the incident immediately.

Meanwhile, the police have launched an investigation into the incident to trace those responsible for the firing incident.

A police official stationed in the Inayat Kallay Bazaar told this correspondent that a team of police personnel led by Khar police station SHO visited the crime scene and collected evidence of the incident.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2023