At least 11 persons including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) tehsil nazim Atif Munsif Khan and a police official were killed after unidentified assailants opened fire at a vehicle in Abbottabad, on Monday.
PTI Tehsil Nazim Havelian Atif Munsif Khan along with 10 others killed in a horrific car firing incident in Abbottabad. The bodies present in the vehicle were completely burnt. District Police Officer (DPO) Umar Tufail told the media that the attack was apparently carried out by unidentified men due to personal enmity. DPO Umar Tufail said that the firing incident took place near Havelian and people are confirming the presence of the tehsil nazim in the vehicle. He added that the vehicle caught fire due to heavy firing resorted to by the attackers.
In a statement, Fahad Shah – Assistant Commissioner of Dhadar area – said that unidentified miscreants planted an improvised explosive device (IED) at Nosham road which exploded when Mir Sardar Khan’s convoy was passing through the area.
As a result of the powerful explosion, two security guards of PTI MPAs lost their lives and another sustained injures. Meanwhile, Mir Sardar Khan remained unhurt in the blast, the assistant commissioner added. Upon receiving the information, the police and rescue teams reached the spot and shifted the deceased and injured to Civil Hospital.
According to DPO Umar Tufail, a rival group had opened fire on the vehicle near Havelian’s Langra village which caused the fuel tank to explode. He refuted media reports claiming that the car had been targeted by a “rocket attack”. He said that the vehicle caught fire and was completely destroyed, adding that 10 people, including Atif, died. The DPO said a heavy police contingent reached the spot and initiated a search operation for the culprits but a first information report (FIR) had not yet been registered.
Tufail said the bodies were moved to the Abbottabad District Headquarters Hospital. Atif hailed from Basti Sher Khan and was the son of former provincial minister Munsif Khan Jadoon. He was elected the Havelian tehsil nazim as an independent candidate in the 2022 municipal elections. PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry offered well wishes for the deceased. PTI’s Faisal Javed said the provincial government should “immediately bring the criminals to justice and punish them according to the law”.
