PESHAWAR: A police officer was martyred and a constable was injured during a raid in the Hakeemabad area of Nowshera district, according to police officials.
The raid was conducted in connection with the ongoing investigation to arrest those involved in the Islamabad imambargah suicide bombing, according to the police sources.
At least 36 people lost their lives, while scores more were injured after a suicide bomber ripped through the Friday congregation at the imambargah on the outskirts of Islamabad.
An official of the Nowshera police said that during a late-night operation, following leads on possible facilitators of the Islamabad suicide bombing, an exchange of fire took place.
The firefight was between personnel of law enforcement agencies and the suspected militants.
“Yes, a raid was conducted in the district and an exchange of fire took place. An assistant sub-inspector was martyred and a constable sustained injuries in the crossfire,” the police official confirmed.
The official, who requested anonymity, added that the raid was conducted as part of an ongoing probe against those involved in the Islamabad suicide bombing and that “it was not Nowshera police alone that took part in the operation”.
He, however, refused to share further details.
The attack occurred at Imambargah Qasr-i-Khadijatul Kubra on the city’s outskirts.
The bombing comes less than three months after a suicide blast outside a district and sessions court building in Islamabad’s G-11 area on November 11, 2025. Twelve people were killed and more than 30 were injured in the blast.
Friday’s attack was the deadliest in the capital since September 2008, when 60 people were killed in a suicide truck bomb blast that destroyed part of the five-star Marriott hotel.
