A Brigadier of Pakistan Army narrowly escaped an attempt on his life when two unidentified gunmen targeted his jeep in I-9 sector of the federal capital on Tuesday morning. The I-9 Police, Anti-Terrorist Squad and other law enforcement agencies rushed to the incident site, cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to nab the culprits.
The security of the area was beefed up, said SSP Islamabad Tahir Alam, while talking to reporters. He said the culprits used SMG in the strike. On the statements of eye-witnesses sketches were being prepared to hunt down the terrorists involved in the attack. To a question regarding the movement of pillion riders in the capital, Tahir Alam said there was no ban on pillion riding in Islamabad.
He said all persons on board the official jeep of Brigadier Waqar Ahmed, including mother of the officer and his driver, escaped unharmed in the indiscriminate firing. "No one was hurt in the morning attack in the busy I-9 residential neighbourhood and the gunmen fled after the incident," he added.
The army officer along with his mother and driver was in I-9 Sector of the capital when two unidentified terrorists riding a motorcycle resorted to indiscriminate firing on his vehicle, eyewitnesses said. They said the attackers managed to escape from the scene.
Eyewitnesses said the terrorists waited for more than 20 minutes outside the residence of Brigadier Waqar to execute the strike, the second attack in a week's time on a senior army officer in Islamabad. A brigadier Moeenuddin Ahmed had been killed Thursday last by terrorists in the same manner. Brigadier Moin was deputed in Sudan on a UN peacekeeping mission and was on leave in Pakistan. His driver was also killed in the attack.
Meanwhile, security sources told this scribe that more such attacks were expected in the coming days. There were a number of groups in Islamabad which were targeting senior army officers and they were getting complete support from inside the capital, they added.