The federal government has appointed Akhtar Hayat as the new inspector general of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police, Aaj News reported on Thursday.

According to a notification from the Establishment Division, Hayat is a 21-grade senior police officer currently serving at the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

The development was expected as the federal government on February 6 sought names for the coveted slot from the Establishment Division.

Khan has also served as the regional police officer in Swat and Malakand.

“With the approval of the federal government, Mr Akhtar Hayat, a BS-21 Officer of the Police Service of Pakistan, presently serving in the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), under the Interior Division, is transferred and posted as Provincial Police Officer (PPO),” said the notification.

The development comes days after a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a crowded mosque next to the Police Lines in Peshawar, in a highly fortified security compound, the latest in a string of attacks targeting police.