Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan says police killed 10 of its workers Abbottabad clash

Islamabad, Oct 18 (IANS) Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan, a far-right religio-political party, has claimed that the police killed 10 of its workers and injured hundreds during a clash in Abbottabad.

However, the police denied the 'deaths' but insisted that 33 of their officials suffered injuries after being hit by gunshots fired by the TLP activists, Dawn news reported.

They also revealed the arrest of 34 workers of the party for arson attacks, firing, damaging public and private property, and other acts of terrorism, Dawn reported.

The clash occurred as the Abbottabad police stopped thousands of TLP workers from marching on Havalian tehsil to attend an Eid Miladun Nabi procession on Sunday night.

Led by TLP chief Allama Saad Rizvi, the marchers tried to remove shipping containers placed ahead of and on the bridge following a ban on processions and gatherings by the administrations of both districts.

The police also baton-charged them and fired teargas on them in a bid to disperse them. The TLP claimed that the police fired bullets on them.

When contacted, TTP Information Secretary, Hazara Zone, Syed Qasid Ali Shah claimed that the police firing killed over 10 workers of the party and left 50 critically injured and hundreds injured, while several were missing following the police's action, Dawn news reported.

"The police fired straight shots and teargas on our peaceful workers on the way to Havelian," Shah told Dawn news on Monday evening.

The TLP leader alleged that the police subjected several party workers to severe torture after arrest at the Chamba Bridge.

He said party leader Saad Rizvi behaved ?sagaciously' otherwise the death toll would have been ?very high'.

Shah said the party would announce the next course of action at a meeting in Lahore.

The government had deployed 1,600 personnel of Riot Police at the entry and exit points of Haripur, including Hazara Motorway, and called two Frontier Corps companies as reinforcement.

Heavy contingents of police were deployed at different places in Havelian.