Six police personnel have been martyred in an attack on police armoured personnel carrier in Tank, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Photo: Express
DERA ISMAIL KHAN:
Six police officers, including an additional station house officer, were martyred on Monday when a police armoured personnel carrier was hit by an improvised explosive device while travelling from Gomal to Tank in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, officials said.
The martyred officers were identified as SHO Ishaq Ahmed Khan, Sub-Inspector Sher Aslam Khan, Arshad Ali, driver Abdul Majeed, Hazrat Ali and Ehsan Ullah. Tank is a district of Dera Ismail Khan, about 62 kilometres away along the South Waziristan Road.
In a separate attack the same day, an IED targeted a police vehicle near Darah Tang in the jurisdiction of Saddar Police Station. Three police personnel, including SHO Razaq Khan, were injured in the blast, police said.
The device had been planted near the Darah Tang bridge. At the time of the incident, the District Police Officer of Lakki Marwat was on a routine patrol of police posts and was expected to pass through the same route. A day earlier, unknown armed assailants had abducted a lawyer from the same location, according to officials.
IED targeting a police vehicle in Lakki Marwat Photo: Express
In another incident, local sources said a police officer identified as Ismat, a resident of Sydowali, and his cousin were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the Kachi Kathgarh area.
The violence followed an overnight militant attack in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district, where police repelled an assault on the Nala Kasho police post. The attack occurred around 12:30am when militants opened fire from multiple directions within the jurisdiction of Domel police station. Police returned fire and prevented the attackers from advancing, forcing them to retreat.
Over the past 24 hours, the Counter-Terrorism Department carried out two intelligence-based operations in Peshawar and Khyber districts, killing six “highly wanted” militants linked to Fitna al-Khawarij, while several of their accomplices escaped.
Police said the first operation was conducted on the outskirts of Peshawar in the Tipu Sano Bacha graveyard area near Zahir Ghari after confirmed intelligence reports. A CTD ambush team killed three militants on the spot, while others fled by using nearby residential areas.
Read: CTD kills six terrorists in targeted operations in K-P
The second operation took place in Jamrud, in the Naqa Kalle area near the Shah Kas Bypass Road, where militants were reportedly preparing a coordinated attack on police. CTD personnel foiled the plan and killed three more militants.
Since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in August 2021, there has been a sharp rise in terrorist attacks in Pakistan. Official figures show that more than 4,000 Pakistanis – including soldiers, police personnel, officers and civilians – have been killed since then.
Security officials say the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan felt emboldened after the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan and has tried to replicate a similar insurgency in Pakistan. Despite what officials describe as clear evidence, they say the Afghan Taliban have so far failed to take effective action against the group.
