Clashes during peace protest kill 1, wounds 27 in N. Pakistan

At least one person was killed and 27 others received injuries on Friday during clashes in the protest staged by people in Bannu district of Pakistan's northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province. The KPK government's spokesperson, Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif said that a protest staged by people in Bannu district escalated and turned unpleasant, resulting in gunfire which led to "some" deaths and injuries. He said Pakistan is a democratic country where everyone has the right to protest peacefully, including the people of Bannu, to demand peace and deliver a message to those in power. He, however, added that no one could be allowed to take the law into their own hands. The protest comes days after a suicide terrorist attack on the Bannu Cantonment that killed eight military personnel. A spokesperson for three government hospitals in Bannu, Muhammad Numan, told media that one person was killed and 27 injured during the violence. The provincial Health Department also declared an immediate health emergency i n all public sector hospitals in the district in light of the situation. "The entire healthcare staff, including doctors and paramedics, is hereby put on high alert to handle the emergent situation on war footings and mitigate the prospects of loss to human lives," a statement released by the health department said. After the suicide attack in Bannu last week, Pakistan has served a strong demarche to Afghanistan over the terror attack and urged Afghanistan to fully investigate and take immediate, robust and effective action against the perpetrators of the Bannu attack and to prevent the recurrence of such attacks against Pakistan using the territory of Afghanistan. The protests come at a time when Pakistan has witnessed a rise in terror attacks especially in KPK and Balochistan provinces bordering Afghanistan after the banned outfit Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended the ceasefire agreement with the government last year. Source: Kuwait News Agency