Peshawar — Local Taliban opened heavy fire on a Jirga where tribal elders and Ali Wazir, leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) were meeting in Wana on Sunday.
Tribal elders including Malak Ajmal, Malak Noor Ali and Malak Khanzada and tens of the supporters of PTM and Ali Wazir were attending an ‘informal’ Jirga in Wana Rustam Bazaar when local militants what they called ‘good Taliban’ attacked them with heavy firing, in the evening.
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At least three of the common men were killed and more than a dozen injured, while the elders and Ali Wazir himself were safe.
A young journalist and Tribal Post reporter Noor Ali Wazir is also among the wounded ones, who was shifted to Dera Ismail Khan for further treatment.
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Journalist Noor Ali Wazir
After the attack, people started pouring in from nearby villages and surrounded the offices of Taliban as well; however, the security forces intervened to contain the situation and imposed a curfew in the area.
Another PTM leader Mohsin Dawar, claimed that militants fled after the attack was successfully repulsed by the PTM sympathisers, leaving their two vehicles behind. However, in the aftermath of the attack, the paramilitary forces reached the area and “started firing”. “As a result, scores of the PTM members were injured,” he alleged.
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Security forces, however, soon reached the site and imposed curfew in the city.
Security forces offered protection to Ali Wazir but PTM activists refused, citing lack of trust and continued guarding his properties themselves.
The Taliban, however, remained inside their compound, which is also established on the property snatched from Ali Wazir’s family.