Kurram DC, FC personnel among four injured in attack on aid convoy

Days after a peace accord was signed between warring tribes in the troubled Kurram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Deputy Commissioner (DC) Javedullah Mehsud and three others were injured as unknown assailants opened fire on an aid convoy in Lower Kurram.

According to reports, the district administration said that unidentified armed men targeted the DC’s convoy in the Bagan area of Lower Kurram during the wee hours of Saturday. Mehsud was shifted to a hospital in injured condition and later airlifted to Peshawar.

The claim was reported after KP CM’s Information Advisor, Barrister Saif, said that arrangements were being made to shift the DC to Peshawar. “His condition is said to be out of danger,” Saif said.

Conflicting reports, however, maintained that the helicopter never arrived in Kurram and had to return to Peshawar due to bad weather. A report by Khorasan Diary also said that the DC had received a total of three bullet injuries to his shoulder and legs and lost a lot of blood.

“He will be shifted to Thall Hospital from Alizai soon. Four injured have been brought to the hospital in Alizai, that include: Deputy Commissioner Kurram Javedullah Mehsud, Police Constable Misal Khan, Frontier Corps Soldier Rahimullah, Frontier Corps Soldier Rizwan [sic],” it added.

Intermittent firing is continuing in the Bagan area of Lower Kurram, reports said.

Kohat Regional Police Officer (RPO), while talking to a private media outlet, said that one of the local warring groups was behind the incident. However, a search operation had been launched in the area to find the accused.

The incident has been condemned by KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, who said that the firing on an aid convoy was “clear proof of incompetence and failure” of the provincial government.

Meanwhile, a convoy carrying food and other daily items, which was expected to leave from Thall tehsil of Hangu towards Kurram, was stopped due to the situation in the area.

It merits a mention that on January 1, a peace agreement was reached between the warring groups, under which it was agreed that the Tall-Parachinar Highway was to be opened after weeks of closure.

The reopening of the highway remains critical to end the humanitarian crisis that unfolded in Parachinar due to weeks-long violent disputes.