LAKKI MARWAT: A policeman was martyred and another sustained bullet injuries when unknown armed men targeted a police patrol party in the Shatakai Dam area of Karak district late on Tuesdaynight.
A police official said that the police party was on a routine patrol duty in the area within the limits of Sabirabad police station when the attack took place.
He said that constable Zafran lost his life in the attack while constable Muhammad Imtiaz was seriously wounded.
The official said that the body and the injured cop were transferred to a hospital.
Following the attack, a large contingent of police led by DPO Imran Khan reached the spot, surrounded the entire area andlaunched asearchfor the assailants, the official said, adding that additional force was alsodeployed at various points to keep track of the movements of suspicious persons and foil any bid by attackers to flee.
He reaffirmed the force’s determination to arrest the culprits soon.
Later, the body of the martyred policeman was shifted to the Police Lines where his funeral prayers were offered with full state honour.
Regional police officer Kohat Irfan Tariq, DPO Imran Khan, assistant commissioner Hamal Khan, officers of district administration and police, civil society representatives and people from different walks of life were in attendance.
A well-dressed and smart police contingent presented a final salute to their fallen colleague while police and district administration officers placed floral wreaths on his coffin.
The regional police chief and other officers met with the relatives of the deceased and shared their grief and condolences with them.
They said that the supreme sacrifice offered by the martyred police personnel would not go in vain.
The RPO assured the family members that the entire police department would stand by them in all difficult times and would not leave them alone.
Separately, police arrested over a dozen anti-social elements during a search and strike operation in various parts of Lakki Marwat district.
A police official said that the operation was conducted on the special instructions of district police officer Sajjad Ahmad Sahibzada following credible information about the presence of anti-peace and suspicious elements in rural areas.