Three prominent tribal elders from Khyber Agency and their driver were killed and another elder was injured when gunmen opened fire on them in a settled area in Bara Qadeem bordering the agency headquarters, Bara. The elders were reportedly returning after attending a jirga at the office of the political tehsildar in Bara. The dead were identified as Haji Zareef, Haji Kabul, Haji Mohammad Lal and their driver Gulab. Haji Amir Khan sustained bullet injuries but survived.Khan told Daily Times at his residence in Kajori, Khyber Agency, that they hired a taxi to Karakhano Market, where they left their bodyguards. “We routinely come to tehsil (Bara) via the settled area and therefore we left our vehicles and bodyguards, who are armed with unlicensed weapons, in Karakhano Market. We did not expect an attempt on our lives,” he said. Khan said that he did not see the attackers. “But I do know that somebody showered bullets at us from the front. I don’t know if the attackers were standing on the road or if they fired at us from some vehicle,” he said.
The bodies of the deceased were taken to Khyber Medical College for autopsy while police registered an FIR against unknown assailants.
Rival groups the Lashkar-e-Islami and Ansarul Islam continue to target each otherÂ’s men in Khyber Agency while putting pressure on non-aligned tribal elders to join them. All those killed on Saturday had denounced both groups and urged the authorities to bar their activities in the agency.