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Mystery surrounds multiple blasts, gunfire in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

There was no official word from military or security agencies regarding the incidents, or the number of casualties.

 Multiple attacks, suspected to be terror incidents, were reported from across different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan on Thurs�day night, but there was no official word from military or security agencies regarding the incidents, or the number of casualties, media reports said.

A powerful explosion, followed by several blasts and heavy gunfire, rocked Lakki Marwat city on Thursday night, official sources said, the Dawn reported.

Sources said the blast took place near the Government Postgraduate College, which houses security forces and a military camp, Dawn reported.

Residents said that after the first explosion, several other blasts were also heard, followed by heavy gunfire, which partially damaged houses in the settled area.

People came out of their homes after the first blast shook the area, but subsequent explosions and gunfire drove them back indoors, Dawn reported.

Citing preliminary reports, sources said militants had attacked a military compound late in the night. “It was a bomb and gun attack,” they said, adding that troops retaliated and a fierce gun battle continued for about an hour.

The management of the district headquarters hospital called doctors and paramedics to duty to cope with any possible emergency.

Muhammad Ashfaq Khan, Lakki Marwat’s district police officer, said that the exchange of fire stopped and no casualty had been reported.

The attack came after three militants, who had targeted a retired colonel in his guestroom, were killed on April 24 in a shootout with counterterrorism and police officers in the Paharakhel Thall village of Lakki Marwat.

CTD inspector, Javed Iqbal, who was wounded in the exchange of fire, later succumbed to wounds at a hospital in Bannu.

Meanwhile, a number of other incidents were also reported in the early hours of Friday; two in the Janikhel area of Bannu district and one in the Mir Kalam area of Tank district. However, neither police nor Inter-Services Public Relations offered any information, Dawn reported.

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Millions affected as deadly floods batter Pakistan

Heavy downpour continued to pummel parts of Pakistan already battered by calamitous floods of epic proportions, unleashing a fresh wave of death and destruction in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Balochistan and Sindh provinces.

Scores of people died in KP, where heavy rains for the second consecutive day triggered devastating floods in rivers and streams that also swept away several homes near their banks, hotels in hilly resorts, while Balochistan remained cut off from the rest of the country due to fresh rains, The Express Tribune reported.

The KP government declared rain emergency in several districts as flash floods triggered by torrential rains wreaked havoc in most parts of the province, raising the province-wide death toll to at least 238 people, officials said.

They added that rain emergency, which came into effect immediately, would remain in place till August 30 as the Pakistan Meteorological Department forecast another spell of monsoon downpour which might continue in the next week, The Express Tribune reported.

Fresh torrential rains pummelled different parts of the province on the second consecutive day.

Heavy downpour in Kaghan Valley triggered flash flood in the Munnawar Nullah that swept away 10 people, according to official data.

More than 10 shops, two hotels and eight vehicles were swept away in Mahandri due to severe flooding in the stream.

A mosque, two schools and a police post were also damaged.

The Kaghan highway was closed for traffic at many places, while people on the Kunhar river banks had moved away to safer places.