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  "path": "/news/1995767/police-in-peshawar-allegedly-open-fire-during-protest-by-khyber-residents",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-28T11:18:31.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.dawn.com",
  "tags": [
    "Pakistan",
    "leave",
    "attack",
    "killed"
  ],
  "textContent": "PESHAWAR: Police in the provincial capital allegedly resorted to firing and tear gas early on Tuesday to disperse a protest by tribesmen from Khyber district against a suspected quadcopter strike that killed a minor girl and injured six others.\n\nThe protesters had gathered at the Hayatabad toll plaza to protest the death of a teenage girl in a suspected quadcopter strike in Bara’s Akkakhel area. Six other family members, including women and children, were injured in the attack.\n\nThe site of the incident is located close to the Bara Bazaar.\n\nHashim Afridi, one of the participants, told _Dawn_ that about 150 tribesmen from Bara and other adjacent areas had gathered at the Hayatabad toll plaza to protest the quadcopter strike. He claimed that the police opened fire, apparently over some scuffle near a roadblock.\n\nHowever, he said there were no casualties, and no arrests were made. He added that Khyber MNA Iqbal Afridi joined the protest later.\n\nMNA Afridi, speaking to _Dawn_ , said the firing began when some protesters broke the windows of a car.\n\nHowever, he maintained that the protest was peaceful and that the protesters were only seeking to raise their voice against civilians becoming collateral damage.\n\nAfridi added that the people of Khyber were asked to leave Tirah earlier this year, and now “they are being killed in other areas as well”.\n\nThe parliamentarian further stressed that tribesmen were powerless in the face of militancy in the region and claimed that the individuals were targeted on the pretext of providing food to militants, questioning how an ordinary person could refuse such a demand.\n\nAfridi also called on the government to fulfil its responsibilities and provide security to the people who were in the crosshairs of militants.\n\nMeanwhile, KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, who also hails from Khyber district, ordered an inquiry into reports of the police opening fire at the protest, according to an official statement.\n\nHe also directed authorities to take strict action against those responsible for the act.\n\nPeshawar City police did not offer a comment on the incident.\n\nLast week, security forces killed five militants in a major counter-terrorism operation in the Akkakhel area of Bara in Khyber district.\n\nSecurity officials said that the operation was launched in Tandori village of Akkakhel, bordering Khazankhel village on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Peshawar.\n\nThey said that terrorists who had descended from the restive Tirah Valley over the past few weeks had gathered in significant numbers in Tandori village and Khazankhel.\n\nOn March 30, security forces killed 10 militants after they seized a government school in the Akkakhel area and hoisted their flag on the school premises.\n\nEarlier in the same month, five children were injured in a quadcopter attack — believed to have been carried out by terrorists — in the Takhtikhel area of KP’s Lakki Marwat district.\n\nLast year in May, four children were killed, and five others, including a woman, were injured in a suspected quadcopter attack in Mir Ali tehsil of North Waziristan district.",
  "title": "Police in Peshawar allegedly open fire during protest by Khyber residents"
}