Ten police officers were killed in a militant assault in Pakistan
Islamabad, Feb 5 (EFE).- At least 10 police officers were killed on Monday in a pre-dawn bomb and gun attack on a police station in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the station’s in-charge said.
“At around 3 a.m., unknown assailants attacked the police station with heavy weapons,” said Khan.
“The terrorists attacked with modern weapons and hand grenades, and the exchange of fire with the police continued for more than an hour,” he said.
READ MORE : Myanmar army plane skids off runway in Mizoram Airport, India 8 injured
Six wounded cops have been shifted to hospitals in Dera Ismail Khan. The militants escaped under the cover of darkness, he said.
The slain cops included six officers from the provincial elite police unit who had participated in several operations against the Taliban last year, the police officer said.
No group claimed the attack, but Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or the Pakistani Taliban often take responsibility for such assaults in Dera Ismail Khan.
The area has been cordoned for a search operation to hunt down the militants, the officer said.
Dera Ismail Khan is one of the worst affected districts of the troubled province along with North Waziristan and South Waziristan in terms of extremist violence.
Militant attacks have risen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces as the Feb. 8 general elections draw closer.
The Pakistan Army on Friday said at least 30 people, including 24 militants and two civilians, were killed in a prolonged three-day military operation in Balochistan province last week.
According to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank, militant attacks more than doubled in January compared to December last year.
The country has been witnessing a surge in insurgent attacks since the Taliban’s ascent to power in Afghanistan in August 2021. EFE