PESHAWAR: Armed militants ambushed a police station in a remote town of Lakki Marwat city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing four policemen and critically injuring another four, officials said Saturday.
“At midnight, militants attacked the Burgai police station in the southern outskirts of Lakki Marwat from two sides and tried to enter the building,” according to Shahid Hameed, a spokesperson for Lakki Marwat police, who told the press that more than 60 policemen were on duty at that time.
The suspects used grenades and automatic weapons on the station before fleeing the scene overnight, said Nawaz Khan, an officer of the targeted police station.
Khan said police on duty retaliated and called for reinforcement before the attackers, their ammunition apparently exhausted, fled the scene before help arrived. Police were searching for the attackers.
لکی مروت : تھانہ برگی پر شرپسندوں کے حملے سے شہید ہونیوالے 4 پولیس اہلکاروں کی نماز جنازہ پولیس لائن میں ادا کردی گئی۔ پولیس کے چاقوچوبند دستے نے سلامی پیش کی. آر پی او بنوں سید اشفاق انور، ڈی پی او ضیاءالدین، اعلی فوجی و سول حکام سمیت پولیس افسران اور عوام نےجنازے میں شرکت کی۔ pic.twitter.com/T6vavwonrb
— KP Police (@KP_Police1) December 18, 2022
Hameed pointed out the police station was situated in a far-flung town and took almost one-and-a-half hours to reach from the city of Lakki Marwat.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but previous attacks on police in the district have been claimed by proscribed Afghanistan-based Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Located 207 kilometres (128 miles) from the provincial capital Peshawar, Lakki Marwat has become a new hotbed of militancy with increasing terrorist attacks launched by the group on security forces in recent months.
Last month, its militants ambushed a routine police patrol, killing all six policemen in the vehicle in the Dadewala town of the Lakki Marwat district.
ATTACK CONDEMNED
Condemning the attack, President Arif Alvi and Chief Minister Mahmood Khan prayed for the elevation of the ranks of the dead police and for the speedy recovery of the wounded.
He also asked the provincial police chief for a report on the incident and directed the injured police be provided with the best medical treatment.
The president said the government’s efforts to combat militancy will continue until the complete elimination of the remnants of terrorism.
Asif Ali Zardari, former president and chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), expressed condolences to the dead policemen’s families. Observing that the “increase in terrorism incidents in KP was concerning”, he demanded strict measures against terrorists.
The TTP, listed as a foreign terrorist organisation by the United States and the United Nations, routinely carries out attacks against security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and elsewhere in Pakistan. Its central leaders and commanders are sheltering in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Pakistan has experienced a dramatic rise in TTP attacks originating from Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power there in August 2021 when the US-backed Afghan government of President Ashraf Ghani collapsed and all international troops exited the war-torn country.
The violence has killed close to 500 people, mostly security forces, in Pakistan this year alone. Officials note that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has suffered the highest number of TTP attacks, claiming the lives of at least 100 soldiers and as many members of the police force.
Islamabad has been urging the Taliban to live up to their commitments to rein in terrorist groups and not to allow them to use Afghan soil as a launch pad for attacks.
Noor Wali Mehsud, the TTP leader, nonetheless claimed the militant network operates from within Pakistan and is not using Afghan soil.
In an interview with CNN on Saturday, Mehsud, from an unknown location, told the TV station that the militant network is targeting the security forces inside Pakistan from “within its territory.”
— With input from Anadolu Agency and AP
