Peshawar: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police have handed over eight armoured personnel carriers and 10 ambulances to regional and district officers to support operational movements and the evacuation of injured personnel, according to a police statement.
Inspector General (IG) Zulfiqar Hameed distributed the keys at the Central Police Office in Peshawar. Additional inspectors general, deputy inspectors general and other senior officers attended the ceremony.
The armoured vehicles comprise six Zarb e Haider and two Dragoon class personnel carriers. Hameed inspected the vehicles and ambulances and was briefed on their features and performance, the statement said.
Armoured personnel carriers, commonly called APCs, provide protected transport for personnel. Hameed said the new vehicles were intended to improve officers’ safety during operations and emergencies.
He said the ambulances carried medical equipment to provide initial treatment to personnel injured in attacks or operations and transport them to hospital. The statement did not specify their individual medical capabilities.
The equipment was handed to police officers from Peshawar, Charsadda, Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Kohat, Karak, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Abbottabad and Shangla. It did not identify which districts received APCs, ambulances or both.
The handover addresses two operational needs: moving personnel with greater protection and getting casualties from the field to medical care. These serve different purposes, with the ambulances intended to support treatment and evacuation after an injury.
Hameed said all available resources were being used to equip the force and that proposals seeking further facilities had been submitted to the provincial government.
The police statement described the force’s role on the frontline against terrorism over the past two decades and paid tribute to personnel killed in the line of duty, from constables to senior commanders.
It did not disclose the vehicles’ cost, funding source or a timetable for further deliveries.
