Overview
- Police say motorcycle gunmen ambushed the cleric’s vehicle in Charsadda’s Utmanzai area Tuesday, fatally wounding Maulana Sheikh Muhammad Idrees and injuring his two police escorts.
- Investigators have retrieved Safe City camera images, registered an FIR at the CTD Mardan station, and formed joint teams to run raids based on the footage, with no arrests announced so far.
- Top leaders including the president and prime minister condemned the killing, while KP’s chief minister ordered a report and the police chief put CTD-led units on the case.
- JUI-F mobilized rallies across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday and called nationwide protests for Friday, and local reports described shutter-down strikes in parts of Balochistan.
- The Islamic State in Khorasan Province claimed responsibility according to some outlets, though officials have not confirmed the claim, and the attack fits a recent pattern of strikes on clerics and political figures in KP.