PESHAWAR: Unidentified gunmen kidnapped a senior army officer and two of his brothers in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, a police official said on Thursday.
One of the three brothers is a lieutenant colonel in army, another is serving as an assistant commissioner at a Cantonment Board and the third is an official of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), according to senior police officer Aziz-ur-Rehman.
The three brothers arrived in their ancestral village of Khadrkhel in Kulachi — a restive town on the periphery of the Dera Ismail Khan district — a day ago for the funeral of their father and were receiving people coming to offer their condolences at a mosque when they were kidnapped.
“At around 6pm yesterday (Wednesday), around 12 to 15 armed suspected militants on motorbikes forced their way inside the mosque and kidnapped the three brothers,” Rehman told Arab News.
There was no clue of where the kidnappers fled, but a vast track of nearby mountains leads to the volatile South Waziristan tribal district, according to the police official. A manhunt is ongoing to locate the kidnappers and rescue the abductees.
Rehman said the abducted officers had not informed the police prior to their arrival in the restive region.
No group has claimed the kidnapping, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who have intensified their activities in the region in recent months.
This month, two policemen were killed when a convoy of judges came under attack in the region, according to police. In February, 10 policemen were killed and six others injured in an attack on a police station in Dera Ismail Khan.
In April last year, Judge Shakirullah Marwat was abducted by unidentified kidnappers near a village at the junction of Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts, but was recovered after a few days.
Pakistan has faced deadly attacks by the TTP since an uneasy, months-long truce with the group collapsed in November 2022.
Islamabad blames the latest surge in violence on neighboring Afghanistan, saying Pakistani Taliban militants have taken refuge there and run camps to train insurgents to launch attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul says rising violence in Pakistan is a domestic issue of Islamabad and it does not allow militants to operate on its territory.
Gunmen kidnap senior army officer, two brothers in Pakistan’s restive northwest — police
https://arab.news/5pahv
Gunmen kidnap senior army officer, two brothers in Pakistan’s restive northwest — police
- The brothers were visiting their ancestral village in the Dera Ismail Khan district for the funeral of their father
- No group has claimed the kidnapping, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants
Bahraini commander witnesses Pakistan Navy passing-out parade in Karachi
- Rear Admiral Ahmed Mohamed bin Ali says it is a matter of immense pleasure for him to review commissioning of personnel at his alma mater
- The training you have received has prepared you to step into a challenging yet deeply satisfying career, he tells young officers, midshipmen
ISLAMABAD: Rear Admiral Ahmed Mohamed Ebrahim Al bin Ali, commander of Royal Bahrain Naval Force, witnessed passing-out parade of Pakistan Navy’s 124th Midshipmen and 32nd Short Service Commission Course in Karachi, where he spoke with the newly inducted officers.
The passing-out parade was held at the Pakistan Naval Academy, at which Commandant Commodore Zia-ur-Rehman congratulated 90 midshipmen and 38 cadets who had completed short service commission after going through academic and training phases.
In his address, Rear Admiral Ali said it was a matter of immense pleasure for him to review the commissioning of personnel at his alma mater, the Pakistan Naval Academy, which he had joined as a cadet in February 1983.
“You must be confident and self-assured that you have been trained at one of the best naval academies of the region. The training you have received at Pakistan Naval Academy has prepared you to step into a challenging yet deeply satisfying career,” he told the young officers and midshipmen.
“It has equipped you with essential military and academic skills and you should spare no effort to build up on these to achieve excellence in your professions.”
Pakistan armed forces have long been training cadets and officers from friendly countries. Currently, the Pakistan Naval Academy is training future officers from Bahrain, Djibouti, Iraq, Sri Lanka and Turkiye.
The Bahraini commander said that being here as the chief guest had taken him back to yesteryears and he would have flashbacks of the familiar sounds and aura of this naval academy.
“I cannot help but marvel at the wonderful transformation that has taken place since my days,” he said.
Pakistan and Bahrain have maintained close diplomatic, security, trade and defense relations and have undertaken joint training and security initiatives, besides regular high-level exchanges.
Bahrain’s Read Admiral Ali met Pakistan Naval Chief Admiral Naveed Ashraf earlier this week, according to Pakistan Navy. They discussed matters of mutual interest, regional maritime security and avenues for bilateral naval cooperation.
Earlier in Sept., Pakistan and Bahrain agreed to enhance cooperation in naval training and regional maritime security operations. During the same month, the Bahraini Chief of Defense Staff Lt. Gen. Thiab Saqer Abdulla Al-Nuaimi met with Pakistan’s Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu and expressed Bahrain’s interest in learning from the PAF’s experience in multi-domain operations.
