Peshawar:
Terrorists began to use quadcopter drones acquired in trade to drop bombs on the security forces in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, police said, potentially dangerous development in the volatile province.
The use of these drones, which are propelled by four rotors allowing vertical takeoff and landing, is worried about the overloaded and under-equipped police forces, the front line against terrorist attacks, officials said.
Two quadcopters sent by the terrorists targeted a police station earlier this month, killing a woman and injuring three children in a house near the district of Bannu, said police officer Muhammad Anwar.
A drone spotted on another police station on Saturday was shot dead with assault rifles, he said. He was armed with a mortar shell, he said. At least eight attacks on these drones have targeted the police and the security forces in Bannu and in the adjacent areas in the past two and a half months, he said.
Regional police chief Sajjad Khan said the terrorists were still trying to control the use of drones. “Terrorists have acquired these modern tools, but they are being experimenting and that is why they cannot reach their targets with precision,” he added.
They use quadcopters to drop improvised explosive devices or mortar shells, said five security officials. They said these explosive devices were filled with ball bearings or iron pieces.
KP IG Zulfiqar Hameed said the police are missing resources to take up the new challenge. “We have no equipment to counter drones,” he told a local news channel on Sunday. “Terrorists are better equipped than us,” he said.
