IED event in Khyber, Jamrud area, Pakistan on Tue 25th July 2023

An official was martyred in a “suicide blast” inside a mosque in the Jamrud area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Khyber district on Tuesday, police said. Peshawar Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ashfaq Anwar told Dawn.com that Additional Station House Officer (SHO) Adnan Afridi was part of the police party that was chasing the alleged suicide bomber and was martyred in the blast. He said the police party had reached the area after receiving information about the presence of suspicious people there. The suspects, he said, ran upon seeing police. “They entered the mosque during the chase where Additional SHO Adnan Afridi was martyred,” the CCPO said, adding that “one of the associates of the suicide bomber has been arrested”. The official further told Dawn.com that the “mosque was not the target of attack and an investigation was under way to determine the target”. Separately, local police official Gul Wali told Dawn.com that the area’s residents had alerted police about the presence of suspicious people there. Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari condemned the incident and paid homage to the martyred police official. “The nation is proud of the brave officers and men of the KP police. “Adnan Afridi sacrificed his life to destroy the evil designs of the terrorists,” he said. The foreign minister said the martyr’s bravery was a “beacon” for the nation. Barrister Feroze Jamal Shah Kakakhel, the caretaker provincial minister for information, also condemned the blast and expressed regret over the police official’s martyrdom. Extending condolences to Afridi’s family, he said the government stood with the martyr’s family in their time of grief. “The sacrifices of the police will not go in vain. The miscreants and enemies of peace will be dealt with strictly.” This is the second prominent terror attack reported from Khyber in less than a week. On Thursday, two suicide bombers were intercepted by policemen at the entrance of the tehsil headquarters complex and police station adjacent to Bara bazaar in Khyber district. Police said they engaged the bombers in a gun battle, which left one of the attackers dead, while the other blew himself up. A portion of the building collapsed owing to the impact of the explosion. Three policemen were martyred and 10 others, including three civilians, injured. The attacks come and an uptick in terror activities in Pakistan, especially in KP and Balochistan, after the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended its ceasefire with the government in November last year. A report released this month by think tank Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies said the first half of the current year witnessed a steady and alarming rise in terror and suicide attacks, claiming the lives of 389 people across the country. In a press conference in June, Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Maj Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that the security forces conducted 13,619 intelligence operations this year in which 1,172 terrorists were killed or arrested. “On a daily basis, over 77 operations are being carried out by armed forces, police, intelligence agencies, and other law enforcement agencies to rid of the menace of terrorism,” he said. DG Sharif added that 95 soldiers embraced martyrdom in these operations.