Islamabad, Pakistan — At least six police officers were killed and another injured Friday when a bomb struck a police vehicle in northwestern Pakistan, the deadliest attack in the country since tensions with Afghanistan escalated late last month.
Police said the vehicle was targeted with an improvised explosive device (IED) in the Shadi Khel Bettani area of Lakki Marwat, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Six policemen, including the station house officer (SHO), were martyred and another policeman was injured,” Haseeb Ullah, an officer at the Lakki Marwat police control center, told EFE.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
However, the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, has been active in the district and frequently targets security forces and police.
The TTP earlier this month announced a fresh offensive against Pakistan amid the ongoing border clashes between Islamabad and Kabul.
Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise in militant violence since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused Kabul of harboring and supporting the TTP, saying the group operates from Afghan territory and benefits from safe havens provided by the Afghan Taliban. Kabul denies the allegations.
The two neighbors have clashed along the border since late last month, when Afghanistan launched a border offensive in response to earlier Pakistani airstrikes.
Pakistan has retaliated with artillery and additional airstrikes targeting several sites in Afghanistan, including the former Bagram Air Base, as well as locations in Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar, a traditional stronghold of the Afghan Taliban.
Pakistani security sources said in a statement released to the media Friday that the military had carried out “successful” airstrikes inside Afghanistan as part of Operation Ghazab Lil Haq.
“On the night of March 12–13, four terrorist hideouts were targeted, including military installations linked to the Afghan Taliban and Fitna al-Khawarij,” the sources said, using a term commonly used by Pakistani authorities to refer to the TTP.
According to the statement, the strikes hit infrastructure belonging to the 313 Corps in Kabul, as well as the Tarawo militant camp. An oil storage facility and logistics infrastructure at Kandahar Airfield were also destroyed.
In a separate strike, Pakistani forces targeted what they described as the “Shirinaw terrorist camp” in Paktia Province, the sources added.
“Operations under Operation Ghazab Lil Haq will continue until the objectives are achieved,” the statement said.
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