Pakistan: 3 Killed, Including Two Teenage Cricketers, in Terrorist Attack in Lakki Marwat

Peshawar (Terror Monitor) — Three people, including two teenage cricketers, were killed and three others seriously injured when terrorists opened fire on a group of people returning from a cricket match in Lakki Marwat district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said.

According to Lakki Marwat police, the victims were returning to their village, Abdul Khel, from Shah Hassan Khel after playing a cricket match on Saturday night when terrorists ambushed them and opened fire.

Police at Dara Pezu Station said the dead and injured were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital in Lakki Marwat.

The deceased were identified as 14-year-old Umair, 17-year-old Alyan and 35-year-old Siddiq Amin.

Following the attack, a large contingent of police reached the scene and launched a search operation for the attackers.

District Police Officer Lakki Marwat Sajjad Ahmad Sahibzada said that several civilians, accompanied by a plainclothes police officer, were traveling from Shah Hassan Khel toward Abdul Khel on Saturday evening when terrorists opened fire on them.

According to police, the terrorists also suffered casualties during an exchange of fire, while three civilians were killed in the attack.

Police said a search operation was launched after the incident involving police and other security agencies, but the terrorists managed to escape under the cover of darkness.

The bodies of the victims were taken to Police Lines, where funeral prayers were offered before they were transported to their native areas, police said.

The district police officer said that the body of a terrorist commander, identified as Manzoor, was recovered during the search operation on Sunday morning. Two other terrorists were reportedly injured, and a search for them was continuing.

According to police, Commander Manzoor was wanted in several cases.

‘Suddenly, Gunfire Started and We Fell to the Ground’

Imdadullah, one of the injured survivors, said they were traveling back to their village in a loader rickshaw after the cricket match.

He said that when they reached an isolated area near dense trees, gunfire suddenly erupted, prompting everyone to fall to the ground.

Imdadullah said three of his companions traveling in the loader rickshaw were killed and three others were wounded.

A Pezu police official said terrorists opened fire on the loader rickshaw near Abdul Khel in the remote mountainous area of Lakki Marwat. Two of the young players were reportedly brothers of serving police officers.

According to the First Information Report (FIR), the group was returning from Shah Hassan Khel to Abdul Khel at around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday when eight or nine armed terrorists had established a blockade along the route.

The FIR said the terrorists opened indiscriminate fire from three directions, killing three people and injuring three others.

Local residents and other companions arranged vehicles to transport the injured to hospital. The FIR stated that the victims had no personal enmity with anyone, but faced security risks due to the presence of terrorists in the area.

A police official said they had also received information that one terrorist was killed in police firing.

Police said a large number of terrorists are present in the area, where violent incidents occur frequently.

History of Attacks on People Associated With Sports in Shah Hassan Khel

Saturday’s attack was not the first incident targeting people associated with sports in Shah Hassan Khel.

On January 1, 2010, a suicide car bombing targeting spectators at a volleyball match in Shah Hassan Khel killed at least 97 people.

Several violent incidents have also been reported in Shah Hassan Khel and surrounding areas this year.

On April 28, 2026, Anti-Narcotics Force official Faridullah, who belonged to Abdul Khel, was reportedly abducted and later taken to the Shah Hassan Khel area, where he was killed.

On July 10, six people were killed in an armed clash between two rival groups in Shah Hassan Khel. Police described the incident as the result of a longstanding feud rather than terrorism.

On July 26, Frontier Corps personnel Bil Qayaz, who was visiting the area while on leave, was shot dead by armed men in Shah Hassan Khel. Around the same period, a girls’ middle school in the area was also destroyed with explosives.

On July 27, police, the Counter Terrorism Department and a local peace committee conducted a joint search operation in the mountainous areas of Abdul Khel, Shah Hassan Khel and Hayat Khel.

On September 1, police, CTD personnel and members of the peace committee claimed to have killed two suspected terrorists during an intelligence-based operation in Shah Hassan Khel.

Geography and Security Situation in Lakki Marwat

Geographically, Shah Hassan Khel and Abdul Khel are located in the southern and relatively difficult-to-access parts of Lakki Marwat.

Lakki Marwat is situated in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and borders Bannu, Karak, Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts.

Parts of the district are plains, while its western and southern areas consist of mountainous terrain. The mountainous areas surrounding Shah Hassan Khel, Abdul Khel and Hayat Khel are considered significant from a security perspective, and police and security forces have conducted numerous search and intelligence-based operations there in recent years.

The spread of terrorism in Lakki Marwat cannot be viewed separately from its geography and the broader security situation in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The district lies between Bannu, Tank, Dera Ismail Khan and the former tribal areas, with some mountainous routes connecting these regions.

Following an increase in Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) activity after 2021, terrorist attacks also increased in parts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Tank and Dera Ismail Khan.

Its proximity to the former tribal areas, difficult mountainous terrain and routes connecting several districts have made Lakki Marwat an important area both for terrorist movement and security operations.