PESHAWAR: In a violence-hit electoral chapter, the first phase of local government (LG) polls has completed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in which seven people had lost their lives.
At least seven persons had lost their lives on Sunday’s LG polls, whereas, nine sustained injuries in violent incidents. The election commission staffers had been forced to suspend the electoral process on 20 polling stations across 17 districts of KP.
During the first phase of KP LG polls, firing, suicide attack and fight among political workers were reported in different localities. Federal Minister Senator Shibli Faraz was also miraculously survived a terrifying attack by unidentified armed men at his vehicle in Dara Adamkhel.
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KP police forces had seemingly failed to control the worsening law and order situation and in an incident, a stampede-like situation was created after aerial firing by cops during a fight between political workers in Malagori.
In a series of violent incidents, two persons were killed and four got injured in the exchange of fire between political workers in the Faqir Khalil area, whereas, scorers were wounded in a fight between political activists of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Awami National Party (ANP) in Shah Khel tehsil of Lakki Marwat district.
In Zakha Khel, the polling process was suspended following firing and a fight occurred inside a polling station in which the political workers torched furniture and ballot papers.
In Bajaur’s Salarzai tehsil, the polling process was stopped after the firing incident inside a polling station, leaving one person injured.
Two persons had died in a suicide blast targeting a vehicle of ANP workers, whereas, others were left wounded.
A number of ANP activists sustained wounds due to the firing of opponents outside a polling station in the Tariqabad area of Charsadda. Police took prompt action and arrested three activists of Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) from the scene.
An exchange of fire was reported outside a polling station in Lakki Marwat’s Manche Wala which led the election staff to stop the polling.
In Karak, the cousin and gunman of a PTI Member of National Assembly (MNA) Shahid Khattak lost their lives in a gun attack at a polling station.
A man got killed in a gun attack on a polling station in Khyber district which turned into a battlefield after a rocket attack and heavy firing during the KP LG polls.
Federal Minister of Science and Technology Senator Shibli Faraz has miraculously escaped a gun attack in which his driver sustained serious wounds. The incident took place in Dara Adamkhel when he was returned to Peshawar from his ancestral city Kohat.
In Dera Ismail Khan, two persons got wounded in a firing incident that took place in the Bazi area.
A day before the LG polls, an ANP leader and mayoral candidate Omar Khattab Sherani had been killed in a gun attack by unidentified men in Dera Ismail Khan. Following his killing, the election process had been postponed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on the tehsil mayor seat.