Police investigating attack on PML-N candidate Sheikh Aftab Ahmed
July 17, 2018
ATTOCK: Police are investigating an attack on former federal minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Sheikh Aftab Ahmed.
The vehicle of Ahmed, who is contesting the July 25 general election on a PML-N ticket from Attock, was fired at late Monday night after he was returning from an election meeting.
Police said they have discovered three bullet holes on the vehicle.
Investigators also stated that Ahmed and his son, Salman Sarwar, were in the vehicle when the attack took place.
The former minister was returning from an election meeting in Kamra village when the incident occurred.
Attock District Police Officer Hassan Asad Alvi said he had reached Ahmed’s house after the incident.
He added that an investigation team comprising senior police officers has been formed to probe the incident.
Sources had informed Geo News earlier that Ahmed's security was withdrawn a week ago.
The incident is the latest in a series of attacks on election candidates across the country.
Also on Monday, Awami National Party (ANP) leader Daud Khan Achakzai was injured after unidentified persons opened fire on the guesthouse of party' candidate Zmrak Khan Achakzai in Chaman.
According to Levies officials, the firing incident occurred in Alizai area of Balochistan's northwestern district of Qilla Abdullah.
Daud is the central vice president of ANP who was visiting Zmrak — the party's candidate from PB-21 constituency — when the attack took place.
The spate of attacks on candidates contesting the upcoming polls began on July 10, when a bomb targeted a rally by ANP in Peshawar, martyring party leader Haroon Bilour along with 21 others.
An attack on a Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) convoy in Bannu on July 13 followed the tragic Peshawar incident. The attack claimed lives of at least four people, while 10 others were injured in the explosion. According to JUI-F leader Akram Khan Durrani, the blast took place near his jeep when he was passing through Haved Bazaar after addressing an election rally.
Later the same day, in what was one of the deadliest attacks in the country's history, Balochistan Awami Party candidate Nawab Siraj Raisani along with 148 others was martyred when a suicide bomber blew himself up during an election rally in Mastung's Darengarh area.
The intelligence and security agencies had warned of security threats in the run-up to the election on July 25 and said it will deploy more than 370,000 soldiers on polling day.
