KP chief minister orders inquiry after alleged police firing at Khyber protest in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Police in Peshawar allegedly used gunfire and tear gas early on Tuesday to break up a protest staged by residents of Khyber district against a suspected quadcopter strike that killed a minor girl and wounded six other members of her family.

The demonstrators had assembled at the Hayatabad toll plaza to protest the death of a teenage girl in Bara’s Akkakhel area. Six other relatives, including women and children, were injured in the incident. The location of the strike was said to be near Bara Bazaar.

Hashim Afridi, a participant in the protest, said around 150 tribesmen from Bara and nearby areas had gathered at the toll plaza. He told Dawn that police opened fire, apparently after a scuffle near a roadblock. He said there were no casualties in the police action and no arrests were made.

He also said Khyber MNA Iqbal Afridi later joined the protest.

MNA Afridi said the firing started after some protesters smashed the windows of a car. However, he said the protest itself was peaceful and that the participants had only come to raise their voice over civilians becoming collateral damage.

“They are being killed in other areas as well”, Afridi said people from Khyber had earlier been asked to leave Tirah, and added that now “they are being killed in other areas as well”.

The lawmaker said tribesmen were helpless in the face of militancy in the region. He also claimed that some people were being targeted on the allegation that they had provided food to militants, while questioning how an ordinary person could refuse such a demand.

He urged the government to meet its responsibilities and ensure protection for people caught in the middle of militant violence.

Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, who belongs to Khyber district, ordered an inquiry into reports that police had opened fire on the protesters, according to an official statement. He also directed the authorities to take strict action against those found responsible.

Peshawar city police did not comment on the incident.

Recent security operations in Akkakhel

Last week, security forces killed five militants in what was described as a major counterterrorism operation in the Akkakhel area of Bara in Khyber district. Security officials said the operation was launched in Tandori village of Akkakhel, which borders Khazankhel village on the outskirts of Peshawar.

According to security officials, militants who had moved down from Tirah Valley in recent weeks had gathered in large numbers in Tandori village and Khazankhel.

On March 30, security forces killed 10 militants after they took control of a government school in Akkakhel and raised their flag on the premises.

Earlier quadcopter incidents

Earlier in the same month, five children were injured in a quadcopter attack in the Takhtikhel area of Lakki Marwat district. The attack was believed to have been carried out by terrorists.

In May last year, four children were killed and five other people, including a woman, were injured in a suspected quadcopter strike in Mir Ali tehsil of North Waziristan district.