SHANGLA: Adviser to the prime minister and PML-N provincial president Amir Muqam on Saturday claimed that his guards foiled the `plan` of some non-local armed men to attack him here.

Mr Muqam told reporters that he was travelling to the Martung area along with his guards and supporters to attend a public meeting and inaugurate a National Database and Registration Authority centre when they spotted some non-local armed men on the roadside.

`I had the suspicion that the armed men were there to target me, so my guards opened fire in the air forcing them to flee,` he said.

The aide to the PM said he had escaped a bomb blast in the samearea, which bordered Buner district, in 2014 but his five guards were martyred in the attack.

He said district police officer Shangla Sajjad Ahmad Sahibzada had ordered a search for the armed men.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PML-N chief organiser Maryam Nawaz Sharif contacted Mr Muqam and condemned the gun attack.

The PML-N leader later inaugurated the Nadra centre in Martung area and said he wanted to see such centres in all tehsils of Shangla district to benefit the people of far-off areas, especially women and elderly men.

He promised the resolution of the power billing issue through the recruitment of more staff members.

Mr Muqam said the PML-N wouldsweep next elections in Shangla.

Meanwhile, the police said they conducted a `search and strike operation in the mountainous areas after learning that some people were roaming there suspiciously ahead of Mr Muqam`s public meeting.

However, no suspect was found, according to a statement issued by the office of regional police officer Nasir Satti.

The statement added that the district police officer of Shangla had been told to ensure a thorough search operation in the area.

The police said that the issue was blown out of proportion by the outlawed militant group, Tehreek-iTaliban Pakistan.

`The TTP assertion on the matter is false and concocted,` they said in the statement.