PESHAWAR: At least three policemen, including a senior officer, were killed in an ambush on a station on the outskirts of Peshawar, the police said on Saturday.
“A group of terrorists attacked Sarband police station at midnight from different sides,” Kashif Aftab Abbasi, senior superintendent of police operations, told reporters.
He added that three policemen, including a deputy superintendent of police (DSP), were killed while chasing the terrorists after the attack.
“Terrorists used grenades, sniper rifles, and automatic weapons in the attack, and apparently the DSP was targeted by a sniper,” he said.
The proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan group, or TTP, claimed responsibility for the police station attack a day earlier and for killing the officers.
Police launched a search operation in the area to arrest the terrorists.
پشاور پولیس نے آدھی رات کو دہشتگردوں کے تھانہ سربند پر حملے کو پسپا بنادیا۔
دہشتگردوں کے تعاقب کے دوران ڈی ایس پی بڈھ بیر سردار حسین اور دو پولیس اہلکار کنسٹیبل ارشاد اور کنسٹیبل جہانزیب شہادت کے عظیم مرتبے پر فائز ہوگئے۔ pic.twitter.com/nYdXFs3INr
— KP Police (@KP_Police1) January 14, 2023
The TTP has waged an insurgency in Pakistan over the past 15 years, fighting for stricter enforcement of religious laws in the country, the release of their members who are in government custody and a reduction of military presence in the former tribal regions.
They also claimed responsibility for an attack Friday at a police checkpoint in the Taunsa district of Punjab that killed two officers.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan said the central government was deeply concerned about deteriorating law and order in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He criticised provincial authorities for failing to learn from previous assaults, including a militant takeover and hostage situation at a counter-terror department in the Bannu district.
“Terrorists are attacking police stations, policemen and officers are being targeted,” said Khan. “It seems that the provincial government has not learned any lesson even from Bannu CTD headquarters,” he said, referring to the counter-terror department that was seized by militants.
He claimed the provincial chief minister’s priority was politics not peace and, with even local police not safe from attacks, he asked what would happen to the safety of ordinary people.
During the last few months, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bordering Afghanistan has again become a hotbed of militancy with increasing terrorist attacks launched by TTP. Last month, several policemen were killed in Afghanistan-based group-claimed attacks in Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan, and Bannu districts.
The recent attacks are the aftermath of rescinding a fragile cease-fire between security forces and the TTP, which could last only a few months. Both sides blame each other for the violation of the cease-fire.
Pakistan has seen a surge in terrorist attacks from the Afghan side of the border, following the Taliban’s storming back to power in Kabul in August last year.
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.
Earlier this month, the National Security Committee (NSC), the top body of civilian and military leadership of Pakistan, warned that no country will be allowed to provide sanctuaries and facilitation to terrorists carrying out attacks in Pakistan.
— With AP
