Security guards attacked in Peshawar, Pakistan

Thursday, July 24, 2014

In the capital city Peshawar of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan, unidentified armed men targeted security guards at the Hayatabad Industrial Estate on Sunday. At the time, two security guards were checking vehicles entering the estate, while others were praying. Police said guard Akhtar Zaman died at the scene, while guard Imran Zaman was taken to Hayatabad Medical Complex and died shortly thereafter.

According to the police, the three perpetrators were riding motorcycles, and escaped. Police cordoned off the area while collecting evidence. Reportedly, attackers look for checkposts with incautious policemen. Superintendent of Police Faisal Kamran said targeting of police is on the rise, especially during the Iftar. The security guards may have been mistaken for policemen by the attackers. Describing alertness measures, he said, "One out of every three cops will be standing alert at some distance at a checkpost or police car".

The security guards were private employees of the estate sanctioned by the police department. Hayatabad police station official Ihtisham explained the police department provided their uniforms. According to Malik Niaz, president of Industrialists Association Peshawar, "They belonged to a group of private guards who assist the police in safeguarding the industrial estate [...] formed by industrialists about five years ago after an increase was reported in kidnapping cases from the estate in broad daylight". He also mentioned they had assigned more guards recently following increases in extortion and attacks.

A handout issued on Sunday evening said Chief Minister Pervez Khattak condemned the incident.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Sources

Javed Aziz Khan. "Two security guards gunned down in Peshawar" — The News International, July 21, 2014
"Two security officials killed in Peshawar attack" — Daily Times (Pakistan), July 21, 2014
"Constant onslaught: Four security personnel shot dead in city, Khyber" — The Express Tribune, July 21, 2014
Zahir Shah Sherazi. "Two security men killed in Peshawar" — Dawn (newspaper), July 20, 2014

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License