Chitrali among nine policemen killed in Lahore

LAHORE, July 12: One of the nine police and prison staff shot dead in Ichra area of Lahore on Thursday morning belonged to Chitral.

Police said the dawn attack, in which 10 gunmen stormed a residential property housing officers from the northwest who were in the city for training, bore the hallmarks of a similar assault on an army camp on Monday. The killings raise fears of a fresh wave of violence in Punjab that will be vital in upcoming general elections, and which for the past year had seen a lull in attacks blamed on Taliban-linked insurgents.

Punjab police chief Habibur Rehman said the attackers came on three motorcycles and one car, armed with Kalashnikov rifles and hand grenades. They then stormed the building in the densely populated area of Ichra, where up to 35 police and prison staff were sleeping.

Eight police trainees embraced martyrdom on the spot. Their names are: Khudai Noor (Chitral), Shafqat Rizwan, Qamaruz Zaman, Sharifuddin, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Fayyaz, Sardar Khan and Azmat Janan while one Asif s/o Jehangir died at Services Hospital. Under treatment injured trainees include Asad s/o Abdul Salam,Jafar s/o Maroof, Nazar s/o Raza Khan, Ayaz s/o Abdul Raqeeb,Shareefullah s/o Ezat Khan, Muhammad Rizwan s/o Sarbuland, Haleemullah s/o Mehmood ul Hassan and Amir s/o Alam Sher.