PESHAWAR, Feb 26: Two brothers, both police personnel, were abducted and later killed by militants in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, officials said on Thursday.
The incident took place on Wednesday in Bannu district when armed militants stormed a mosque during Taraveh prayers and kidnapped three brothers, two of whom were serving police personnel.
Police said the two policemen were later killed and their bodies dumped along Marwat Canal Road, while the third brother, a clerk at the commissioner’s office, remains in the custody of the abductors.
Security forces have launched a manhunt to rescue the third captive.
Eyewitnesses said 10 to 12 armed men entered the mosque, held worshippers hostage and abducted the three before fleeing to an unknown location.
Local Chairman Masoom Wazir said he received information about two bodies and found both victims lying in blood at the site. The bodies were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital.
Regional Police Officer Sajjad Khan said the kidnappers were affiliated with a militant group and that a full-scale operation had been launched against them.
The perpetrators will be brought to justice at all costs, he said, adding that police and other security agencies were jointly conducting search operations at multiple locations to recover the third abducted individual.
He said militant elements had previously used mosques as hideouts, but security forces continued operations to protect places of worship and ensure the safety of citizens.
Funeral prayers for the two slain police personnel were offered with full state honours at the Police Lines in Bannu on Thursday.
The ceremony was attended by senior police and civil administration officials, including Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Faheem Khan, along with a large number of police personnel and local residents.
Earlier, on February 21, a lieutenant colonel and a sepoy were killed in a suicide attack during an intelligence-based operation in the district.
Bannu has witnessed a series of security incidents in recent months, with civilians and security personnel repeatedly targeted, prompting intensified counter-terror operations. (PTI)
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