A peace committee member and a policeman were gunned down in Matta tehsil in Swat region on Saturday. Two other persons were injured during attack on peace committee member Ashraf Khan who was also a local leader of the Awami National Party (ANP), police sources said.
Khan was shot dead in the Bama Khela area of Matta. Scores of anti-Taliban elders have been killed in Matta since the ouster of Mullah Fazlullah from Swat. Today's killing comes days after suspected militants shot dead three peace committee volunteers - Zahir Shah, Mohammad Zeb and Fareed in Swat's Kabal district. The killings which appear to be targeted have caused a sense of insecurity to prevail among the local peace volunteers. The army declared Swat, once known as the "Switzerland of Pakistan", back under control in July 2009, after defeating radical cleric Fazlullah and his Taliban fighters who waged a two-year campaign of terror in the region.