PESHAWAR, Sep 21 (APP): A suspected sucicide bomber
was killed while two others escaped during a successful operation launched by police in Totalai village, District Buner on
Monday. According to DPO Buner Abdul Rashid Khan, the suicide bomber was apparently planning to assassinate NWFP Education
Minister Sardar Hussain Babak during visit to his hometown Totalai to exchange Eid greetings with the people of his constituency.
On an information that a suspected teenage wearing
suicide jacket and two other militants were hiding in the Dadar Middle School Totalai, District Buner, the police quickly
rushed to the area but sensing the presence of the police the militant opened firing on police party.
During exchange of firing two persons, accompanied the bomber, got advantage
and escaped from the back wall of the school, followed by a loud explosion rocked the building of the school as the lone teenager,
age 14 to 16 year-old, blew him up.
The
DPO also confirmed the escaped persons were seemed to be the main planner of the assignation attempt on the NWFP Education
Minister.
“We have collected the body
parts of the young suicide attacker and these were sent for identification purposes,” said the DPO. He said there was
not any other casualty.
When contacted,
the NWFP Minister for Education Sardar Hussain Babak told APP that the bomber, hiding in the school, blew him up sensing the
presence of the police who quickly reached by giving no time to the suicide bomber to reach at a target area where large number
of people were present on the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr for greeting and meeting the minister.
Hailing from Village Totalai, District Buner, Sardar Hussain Babak won PF-77
Buner for ANP in provincial assembly.
He
was initially nominated as Minister of Information and Public Relations for ANP-led provincial government. Now he is performing
his duties as Minister for Primary Education of NWFP.
The Minister further said that the people of the area elected him to serve them.
He said that such activities of the anti-state elements would not intimidate
or stop him from his efforts to resolve problems being faced by people of the area,” a confident Sardar Hussain Babak
said.
He also appreciated the timely action
of the police. “It did not terrify me rather it helps me to become more close to the people who elected me to serve
them,” Babak said.
He said that the
government is committed to take all appropriate measures to resolve the problem of the people without any discrimination,
specially the people of Buner and Malakand who suffered a lot at the hands of militancy in the areas.
“I’m happy and pray to God that the people of Buner have been protected
by the police because they (the people of Buner and Malakand Division) went under severe trauma as a result of the militant
activities, followed by a timely action of the security forces,” he said. Babak likes to call himself a - political
worker - instead of a leader or an officer.
He
said after the successful operation by the security forces, now the people of Buner are feeling a sense of security, the Minister
added.
