Daily Times

At least two policemen were killed while three others sustained injuries in an attack on police mobile van of Pezo Police Station in district Lakki Marwat on Monday. According to police, among those who were killed, Bashir Khan and Saif Ali Khan while Asmatullah, Imadad, and Inamullah were injured in the firing.

Lakki Marwat District Police Officer (DPO) Tariq Habib said that the gunmen launched an assault on a patrolling vehicle from the Pizo Police Station, resulting in the immediate death of two officers.

Following the incident, a large contingent of police officers arrived at the scene, cordoned off the area and launched an investigation into the incident, he added.

Separately, unidentified attackers targeted a police checkpoint in Swat and injured an officer. Swat DPO Shafiullah said the assailants, whose identities remain unknown, targeted a checkpoint in the Talegra area. Consequently, one police officer sustained injuries and was transported to Saidu Sharif Teaching Hospital, the DPO added.

Subsequently, he said a police team arrived at the scene and initiated a search operation within the adjacent mountainous regions to apprehend the attackers.

Last week, four people, including a passerby, were killed and two others injured when gunmen opened fire on their rivals during a weekly fair in the Landiwah area of Lakki Marwat district. The attacks come as terrorism in Pakistan has been rearing its head again. Over the past few months, the law and order situation in the country – especially in KP and Balochistan has worsened – with terrorist groups executing attacks with near impunity across the country. Since the talks with the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke down in November, the militant group has intensified its attacks, particularly targeting the police in KP and areas bordering Afghanistan. Insurgents in Balochistan have also stepped up their violent activities and formalised a nexus with the outlawed TTP.

In January, a powerful suicide blast in a mosque in Peshawar Police Lines killed 84 people and injured many others. According to statistics released by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based think-tank, January remained one of the deadliest months since July 2018, as 134 people lost their lives – a 139 per cent spike – and 254 received injuries in at least 44 militant attacks across the country.