PESHAWAR: Militants in Swat applied strategies from the video game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) to execute an attack on a police station, according to senior officials. They used PUBG's chat room to communicate, avoiding electronic surveillance and detection.
On August 28, the Banr police station in Swat was attacked, resulting in the death of one policeman and injuries to two others. After the attack, local authorities launched an investigation, closely analyzing hours of CCTV footage to trace the culprits.
Dr. Zahidullah, the district police officer (DPO) of Swat, said that investigators identified one attacker using a mobile phone, which helped track down the militants. However, instead of traditional communication methods, the militants used PUBG's features to coordinate, making it difficult to trace them.
“The militants would play PUBG to train and motivate their group for battles, using the game’s chat room for communication,” said Dr. Zahidullah. Initially, the police believed a grenade had been thrown at the station, but upon closer inspection, it turned out they had used an improvised explosive device (IED) disguised as a power bank.
During the investigation, a key suspect revealed the names of two other militants, leading to their arrest. The suspects shared that they never relied on common communication methods, frequently changing phones and SIM cards. Instead, they created a chat room in PUBG to exchange messages.
The militants were identified as belonging to a local group led by Murad, alias Rehmatullah, which is affiliated with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The group’s leader and some of the suspects’ family members were found to be living across the border in Afghanistan. Dr. Zahidullah also confirmed that some family members of the militants had been involved in past militant activities and had evaded arrest during the military's Operation Rah-i-Rast in 2009.
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