Daily Times

Unidentified militants attacked a vehicle of the Anti-Terrorist Force (ATF) and killed three officials in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, a senior police official said on Sunday. The militants ambushed the ATF vehicle in Zhob, a remote district bordering the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, late on Saturday night, according to Superintendent of Police Saboor Agha. The ATF members were en route to Dera Ismail Khan after handing over a prisoner to authorities in Zhob. “One soldier was killed at the ambush site, while two others succumbed to gunshot wounds on their way to provincial headquarters of Quetta,” SP Agha told Arab News. “A fourth soldier injured in the attack is being treated in Quetta.” Saturday’s attack occurred on the Zhob-Dera Ismail Khan highway close to Balochistan’s border with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where militants, particularly from the Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have intensified attacks against security forces in recent months. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack on Anti-Terrorism Force personnel in Zhob. “The entire nation salutes the martyrs who sacrificed their lives in the fight against terrorism,” the prime minister said. “We are determined to eradicate the menace of terrorism from its roots,” he added.