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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Schools in Kohat reopen on Nov 2

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The commissioner, Kohat division, has ordered that all universities and educational institutions in the region including tribal areas would reopen from Nov 2.

He said that a 19-point security plan had already been enforced collectively by the government and the administrations of the educational institutions in the respective districts.

Addressing a high-level meeting at his office on Friday the Commissioner, Khalid Khan Umerzai listened to the proposals of the Peace Committee and representatives of the educational institutions. He directed the executive district officers, education, and the school/college managements to adopt a fool proof plan for the security of the children and the teachers.

The meeting was attended by DIG, Kohat region, Abdullah Khan, District Police Officer, Kohat, Dilawar Khan Bangash, District Coordination Officer, Kifayatullah Khan, District Coordination Officer, Karak, Mohammad Ajmal, all the executive district officers, education, members of the teachers’ association, peace committee members, and representatives of schools, colleges and universities attended the meeting.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Prayer leader, two others picked up from Kohat

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The sleuths of a premiere intelligence agency picked up a prayer leader and two other persons from two different mosques in Kohat city, sources told Dawn.

They said that the intelligence agency acting on a tip off raided masjid-i-Qubaa in Jungle Khel area and arrested Maulvi Burhandud Din. Two other suspects were also picked up from a mosque located adjacent to the government veterinary hospital in Tirah bazaar.

Eyewitnesses said that some people came in army vehicles and took away two people from a mosque in Tirah bazaar. The identity of the arrested persons was kept secret.

Meanwhile, the bomb disposal squad of army destroyed two rockets and other explosives in the firing range on the outskirts of Kohat. The unexploded rockets were fired at Kohat Cantonment by militants few days ago. Explosive material seized from suspected militants was also destroyed.

Afghans held under Foreign Act in Kohat

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The police arrested seven Afghans, who were trying to enter Hangu district from Kurram Agency on Thursday.

The Afghans were booked under 14 Foreign Act. They were being interrogated before expulsion from the country.

Meanwhile, in a joint operation police and Frontier Constabulary conducted raids at different places in Dalan and Doaba and arrested four people along with unlicensed weapons. Two Kalashnikovs, three shotguns and five pistols were also recovered from the possession of the four accused.

Results of KUST will be annouced today

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The Kohat University of Science and Technology will announce results of B.Com Part-I and Part-II examination, 2009 at 11am on Friday.

A notification issued on Thursday by the controller examination, Azad Khatak, said the candidates interested in rechecking of their papers should submit their applications within 20 days with the examination section.

The candidates whose result had been withheld due to unfair means cases should appear before the committee concerned on Nov 5 between 10am and 2pm, it said. Similarly, the detailed marks certificates could be collected by the candidates from the office of principal of their schools.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

militants arrested in Kohat

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Police and security forces arrested six suspected militants and two outlaws during the ongoing search operation on Tuesday.

The joint search operation was conducted in Muhammadzai, Shahpur, Jarma, Tappi, Bilitang, Junglekhel and Gumbat areas of Kohat district.

Eight people including two outlaws were arrested after forces carried out raids at suspected hideouts and recovered two Kalashnikovs, three rifles, five pistols, four shotguns and huge quantity of cartridges.

Two women shot dead in Kohat

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Two women were killed allegedly by their relatives in their houses in different areas of Kohat on Tuesday. In first incident Umer Khan allegedly opened firing on a 40-year-old woman, the widow of Hayat Khan, in Dhodha village and killed him. He managed to escape.

Similarly, a tribesman from Orakzai Agency, Asal Khan, allegedly killed his sister-in-law, wife of Naimat Khan, in her house over a petty dispute in Hayat Shaheed Colony. Sadder police station registered both the cases against the accused and started investigations.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

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Sixteen militants were killed and 23 others injured during a joint operation by the army and Frontier Constabulary in Tora Warai area of Hangu district on Sunday night and Monday.


Fifty-four militants, some Afghans among them, were captured. According to officials, security officer Abdul Jaffar lost his life and seven other personnel suffered injuries in the operation which was launched after an attack by militants on a military checkpost in Tora Warai late on Sunday night.


According to reports reaching here, hundreds of militants of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan from Orakzai Agency and no-go areas of Hangu took part in the attack. Troops repulsed the attack after a gunbattle which continued for about two hours.


The officials told Dawn that militants had taken away the bodies of their colleagues and the injured. Six hideouts of militants were destroyed in Tora Warai and a large quantity of arms and ammunition, including two rocket-launchers, five rockets, two grenades, three shotguns, two rifles, four pistols and automatic weapons, was seized. Militants use Tora Warai to enter North Waziristan from Orakzai. A few days ago, security forces blew up a road linking Hangu with North Waziristan to stop the movement of militants. Meanwhile, DPO Gul Wali Khan said that police had arrested 22 suspects, including seven illegal Afghan nationals, during a search operation in Hangu and Thall. Two Kalashnikovs, three rifles, five shotguns, seven pistols and cartridges were seized. Police also foiled an attempt to smuggle a large quantity of food items to Afghanistan and arrested six people. Three trucks carrying 1,050 bags of flour, 10 bags of wheat, 400 bags of sugar and 60 tins of ghee were impounded.
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Sixteen militants were killed and 23 others injured during a joint operation by the army and Frontier Constabulary in Tora Warai area of Hangu district on Sunday night and Monday. Fifty-four militants, some Afghans among them, were captured. According to officials, security officer Abdul Jaffar lost his life and seven other personnel suffered injuries in the operation which was launched after an attack by militants on a military checkpost in Tora Warai late on Sunday night. According to reports reaching here, hundreds of militants of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan from Orakzai Agency and no-go areas of Hangu took part in the attack. Troops repulsed the attack after a gunbattle which continued for about two hours. The officials told Dawn that militants had taken away the bodies of their colleagues and the injured. Six hideouts of militants were destroyed in Tora Warai and a large quantity of arms and ammunition, including two rocket-launchers, five rockets, two grenades, three shotguns, two rifles, four pistols and automatic weapons, was seized. Militants use Tora Warai to enter North Waziristan from Orakzai. A few days ago, security forces blew up a road linking Hangu with North Waziristan to stop the movement of militants. Meanwhile, DPO Gul Wali Khan said that police had arrested 22 suspects, including seven illegal Afghan nationals, during a search operation in Hangu and Thall. Two Kalashnikovs, three rifles, five shotguns, seven pistols and cartridges were seized. Police also foiled an attempt to smuggle a large quantity of food items to Afghanistan and arrested six people. Three trucks carrying 1,050 bags of flour, 10 bags of wheat, 400 bags of sugar and 60 tins of ghee were impounded.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Kohat medics want security

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The doctor and paramedic association of the District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) Saturday demanded of the government foolproof security owing to growing terror threats. The meeting of the associations, chaired by Dr Safdar Khan, was held following firing incident in the hospital. Unknown gunmen fired at the hospital late Friday, creating a panic among the staff. The doctors, however, postponed the strike after the DCO assured them proper action.

Friday, October 23, 2009

One killed in Kohat shell blast

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One person was killed when a shell fired from unknown location hit the Tirah bazaar.

Security forces pounded militants’ hideouts after the incident.Police sources said two rockets were fired from undisclosed location late on Thursday night among which one was landed in Tirah bazaar and exploded.

A passerby received serious injuries that later died in Liaquat hospital. Forces targeted militants’ positions with heavy artillery in Dara Adamkhel. No causality was reported in the incident.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

18 held in Kohat

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Police and security forces arrested 18 suspected militants in Kohat and three fugitives in Hangu on Tuesday.

The police elite force and the security forces conducted operation in different sectors of the KDA Township and Cantonment areas.

During search, they arrested 18 people belonging to tribal areas, who were allegedly involved in terrorist activities. The arrested persons were shifted to an unspecified place amid tight security for interrogation.

In Hangu, the Saddar police raided certain houses in Togh Sarai and Mohammad Khwaja areas on a tip-off that proclaimed offenders were hiding there and arrested three accused, Hashmat Haleem, Mohammad Shafique and Mohammad Rizwan. A hand grenade, one Kalashnikov and dozens of cartridges were also seized from them.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Eight suspects arrested in Kohat

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The police arrested eight suspected persons including two Afghan nationals during search operation in the district on Sunday.

Official sources said the suspects were arrested in Ublan, Sheikhan, Jarma, Merozai and Bilitang areas during search. The suspects included Noor Marjan, Khan Zaman, Naseer Ahmad, Asimuddin, Muzamil, Israruddin and Zarbat Khan.

Two Kalashnikov rifles, three rifles, three shotguns, five pistols and hundreds of rounds were also recovered.Meanwhile, the provincial anti-carlifting cell was mulling action against non-custom paid vehicles and lifted cars as such vehicles were used in the recent car-bombing incidents in the district, the sources added.

Taliban launch fund-raising campaign in Kohat Region

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Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan has started a fund-raising campaign in the Orakzai Agency and parts of the Kurram Agency and Hangu.

Sources said the TTP men were asking tribesmen to donate generously because the conflict in South Waziristan was likely to be a long one.

“They are demanding cash for weapons, food and medicines because it is going to be a long offensive,” said a local.

According to him, many politicians, businessmen, drug barons and jewellers in Kohat, Hangu, Thall, Kurram Agency, Darra Adamkhel and Bannu have been making periodic payments to the Taliban.

“So these donations are in addition to the money routinely and regularly extorted by the militants.”

Taliban reportedly collect Rs15 million every year as “jazia” from the Sikh community in Orakzai Agency. They have also amassed huge sums through kidnapping for ransom.

They kidnapped a local trader, Fayyaz Paracha, from the Kohat-Hangu highway three days ago and demanded Rs10 million for his release. A kidnapped man, released from a TTP hideout on the outskirts of Kohat after a military operation, told Dawn some time ago that their captives termed ransom “a kind of jihad”.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Irrelevant people entry banned in Kohat Schools

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The district administration on Saturday banned the entry of irrelevant people in private and government sector schools for security reasons.

It asked administrations of the schools to keep the gates closed after the start of classes.

Similarly, the parents should be allowed in schools only after showing their national identity card and going through strict body search, the order said.

The district administration warned that if a school watchman was found absent without information, stern action would be taken against him.

School heads were asked to hire watchmen and make foolproof security arrangements for protection of children.

Ten held in Hangu

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The district police in a joint operation with the Frontier Constabulary (FC) arrested 10 suspected militants including four kidnappers and recovered weapons from their possession on Saturday. Sources said the joint operation was conducted in the Mardukhel Banda, Gidarwan, Hayatabad, Sifat Banda and Togh Chappar areas in the district. The held militants included Ajab Noor, Muhammad Umar, Naveedur Rahman, Muhammad Rasool, Sakhi, Lahor Khan, Niaz Rasool, Sadiq Shah and Muhammad Shah. Official sources said one machine-gun, five Kalashnikoves rifles, seven shotguns, four rifles, eight pistols and thousands ammunition rounds were recovered from the suspects.

Militants’ hideouts pounded in Darra and Orakzai Agency

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Helicopter gunships pounded militants’ hideouts in Darra Adamkhel and Orakzai Agency on Saturday.

According to official sources, the gunships started targeting suspected hideouts in Shani Kalay, Bostikhel and Sar Mela areas of frontier region of Kohat on Friday night and the blitz continued till Saturday afternoon.

Security forces fired artillery rounds at a route linking Darra Adamkhel with Khyber Agency which is frequently used by militants.

Helicopter gunships also targeted positions in Feroze Khel area of lower Orakzai Agency, believed to be a stronghold of Tariq Afridi group of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. However, there were no reports of casualties.

Meanwhile, armed men belonging to Tariq Afridi group looted two arms shops of pro-government local leader Momin Khan Afridi in Darra Adamkhel bazaar.

A fight is going on between Momin Khan Afridi group and the Tariq Afridi group after the expiry of the deadline given by the former to the latter to vacate the area till Thursday last.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Evidence from Kohat blast sent for DNA test

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The investigation team of the district police have gathered the required forensic evidence of the Thursday suicide bombing in Kohat and sent it and the body parts of the suicide bomber to the laboratory for DNA test, a senior police official said on Friday.

Talking to reporters, district police officer Delawar Khan Bangash said the investigation team obtained pieces of evidence from the spot and sent it to the laboratory for test. He said that the van used in the attack carried engine number IKZ0101755 and K2K130-906140, which appeared to be non-customs paid.

He said the explosives had been hidden in the secret cavities of the van.Meanwhile, the funerals of those slain in the suicide bombing targeting the Cantonment Police Station in Kohat were held in the city and in their respective villages.

The blast killed 11 people including three cops and injured another 22.

Evidence from Kohat blast sent for DNA test

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The investigation team of the district police have gathered the required forensic evidence of the Thursday suicide bombing in Kohat and sent it and the body parts of the suicide bomber to the laboratory for DNA test, a senior police official said on Friday.


Talking to reporters, district police officer Delawar Khan Bangash said the investigation team obtained pieces of evidence from the spot and sent it to the laboratory for test. He said that the van used in the attack carried engine number IKZ0101755 and K2K130-906140, which appeared to be non-customs paid.


He said the explosives had been hidden in the secret cavities of the van.Meanwhile, the funerals of those slain in the suicide bombing targeting the Cantonment Police Station in Kohat were held in the city and in their respective villages.


The blast killed 11 people including three cops and injured another 22.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Ten killed in Kohat suicide attack








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At least ten people were killed and several others wounded when a car bomb exploded near the Cantt Police Station in the northwestern Pakistani town of Kohat, police officials said.

'It was a suicide attack,' district police chief Dilawar Bangash said.

The bomber ploughed his car into the outer wall of the police station in the town of Kohat, he said, adding that the building was badly damaged. 'Some school children are among the dead,' another policeman at the scene added. Some 20 others have also been wounded. The toll may go up, another police official, Fazle Naeem, added.

Kohat is an area close to the militant-riddled tribal regions.

Pakistan has suffered a string of suicide attacks in the past two weeks that have killed more than 100 people. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for most of the assaults and warned of more if the army proceeds with an offensive in their main stronghold in South Waziristan tribal region.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Over 100 held, arms seized in Kohat swoop

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More than 100 suspected militants including 56 illegally staying foreigners were arrested in an operation conducted by the police and Frontier Constabulary in Kohat region on Sunday.

The operation which was largely carried out in parts of the Kohat and Hangu districts along the Orakzai Agency and Frontier Region of Kohat besides the congested city areas, was aimed at wiping out suspected militants.

The DIG, Kohat region, Abdullah Jan said that they were concentrating on the border areas of Hangu and Kohat to plug the unfrequented routes which were used by militants to enter Punjab.

He informed that huge quantity of lethal weapons was also seized from suspects who were being interrogated by a special team.

The police commandoes and FC personnel took part in the clean up operation in which Armoured Personnel Carriers and heavy machine guns were used in the B areas.

Mr Jan said that the operation had become indispensable in the present situation when the terrorists and kidnappers had let loose reign of terror in the region.

The operation was conducted in the light of the information given to police by the intelligence agencies in all the refugee camps in the region.

The seizure included 10 Kalashnikovs, 3 12-bore repeaters, 7 rifles, 15 pistols, 6 shot guns, 800 cartridges of different bores and 18 chargers.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Bomb defused in Kohat

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An improvised explosive device planted with an electricity pole on Hangu Road was defused by the bomb disposal squad on Friday.

The police sources said that a man called Rescue-15 and told that smoke was blowing from a suspicious bag near Al-Yaseen CNG filling station on Hangu Road. The bomb disposal squad reached the scene along with police personnel and blocked the Kohat-Parachinar highway for the safety of the passengers and defused the device.

The bomb disposal squad officials said that deadly explosive material was used in the 5-kg bomb and the bag was stuffed with nuts, bolts and ball bearings to inflict extensive damage.

Taliban camp pounded in Darra; 10 killed

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Ten militants were killed and another six injured on Friday when helicopter gunships attacked a training camp of Tehrik-i-Taliban Darra Adamkhel in Tora Chinna.

Three hideouts of militants were destroyed as artillery fire on suspected positions continued on the second day on Friday. Eighteen suspected militants were arrested in Sra Mela and Sharaki areas.

The air strike follows the killing of a security man in an ambush by militants in Bostikhel area of Kohat Frontier Region on Thursday.

Official sources said a convoy came under fire in Bostikhel in which a security man, Sajjad, was killed. The body was brought to the combined military hospital.

A check-post was damaged in Akhorwal when militants fired four rockets.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Six Jordanian widows handed over to NGO

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Six Jordanian widows were handed over to the chairman of the World Prisoners’ Relief Commission, Pakistan, by unknown tribesmen here on Monday morning.

In a press release issued here, the commission’s Pakistan chapter chairman Javed Ibrahim Paracha said husbands of the six women had died in the Afghanistan fighting some time ago. He said a few religious-minded tribesmen approached him and told him that the women who had children along with them wanted to go back to their country.

Mr Paracha contacted the ambassador of Jordan in Islamabad, who talked to the women and confirmed the identity of their relatives in Jordan. He requested Mr Paracha to bring the families to Islamabad as soon as possible so that arrangements for their early return to their country could be made.

Mr Paracha told Dawn that the women were handed over to him by tribesmen, but they did not disclose the name of the tribal area where they had been kept after the deaths of their husbands. He claimed that the women were in fact princesses and members of the royal family of Jordan.

Sources, however, said the women’s husbands had died during air strikes on the hideouts of militants in Orakzai and Kurram agencies a few months ago.

The women will be handed over to the Jordanian ambassador in Islamabad on Oct 7.