A former Pakistan Railways employee was martyred on Monday after he confronted a suicide bomber in Attock district’s Jand area, averting an attack that could have claimed dozens of lives.
According to District Police Officer Sardar Mavarhan Khan, the attacker’s target appeared to be the Mankor security post in Attock. The key post, per the officer, is on the border between Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa border, roughly 70km from Attock city. The post aims to counter smuggling, hoarding, drug trafficking and the movement of terrorists. As such, it is usually heavily populated with representatives of police, the Federal Board of Revenue, the Anti-Narcotics Force, among others.
The DPO identified the shepherd as Liaqat, with local media reporting he had noticed a suspicious individual in the area while grazing his goats nearby. When he confronted the suspect and sought his identification, witnesses said the attacker detonated a suicide vest.
Police said they have launched an investigation into the incident to determine the identity of the attacker and his facilitators.
Pakistan is the midst of a terror resurgence since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in August 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly called on the interim Afghanistan government to prevent the use of its soil by terrorist organizations to plan attacks committed inside Pakistan. Despite the repeated attempts, however, the Afghan Taliban have failed to act, prompting Islamabad to launch Operation Ghazab-lil-Haq.