LAKKI MARWAT: Local elders on Saturday condemned the armed attack on Marwat Qaumi Jirga head Haji Mohammad Aslam Khan on Friday.

According to reports, a group of armed men attacked Aslam Khan in Eesakhel village where he had gone to attend the funeral of a local. The attackersreportedlyopened fire on him. However, Aslam as well as those present there to offer the funeral prayers miraculously escaped.

Soon after the incident, a police party led by SHO Javed Khan rushed to the village and arrested two attackers identified as Mohammad Ismail and Akbar Zaman.

A police official said efforts had been intensified to arrest the remaining attackers.

Aslam Khan told police in his preliminary report that the armed attackers had demanded extortion money from him and on refusal they made a life attempt on him.

Meanwhile, a jirga consisting of elders of Meenakhel clan on Saturday condemned the attack and asked the government to bring the attackers to justice.

On the occasion, former tehsil nazim Fareedullah Khan Meenakhel, who isalso a member of MQJ, said the attackers harmed the sanctity of funeral and the body. `To stop an elder from attending the funeral prayer and making a life attempt on him is against the Pakhtun traditions and teachings of Islam,` he added.

He demanded of the government to arrest the remaining attackers and award them exemplary punishment.

THIEVES ARRESTED: The police on Saturday claimed to have busted a gang of thieves and arrested its two members during an action in Pezu town.

Taking notice of the mobile phone snatching incidents in the town, the police began making efforts to trace the culprits with the help of modern technology, said an official, adding during investigation police learnt that stolen phones were being used by a group of people belonging to Lakki and DI Khan districts.

On a tip-off about the presence of the gang members in the town, the official said, personnel of Shaheed Halbat Ali Khan police led by SHO Ghulam Mohammad raided a place and arrested Habibullah hailing from Dera, and Farmanullah of Lakl(i. He said the cops also seized stolen mobile phones fromthem.-Correspondent