Three security personnel were killed and another injured on late Tuesday when unidentified attackers opened fire on a security vehicle in the Roghani area on the outskirts of Chaman, security officials said.
The attack occurred during a routine movement through the area, and the assailants fled immediately after the shooting, according to law enforcement sources.
The martyred and injured personnel were taken to Chaman Civil Hospital, where the wounded official was reported to be in stable condition, they added. Security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to trace the attackers.
Authorities noted that similar attacks have previously targeted police and security personnel in and around Chaman. Efforts are ongoing to strengthen security and maintain peace in the region, they maintained.
Separately, four cops were martyred and two others were wounded when unidentified attackers opened fire at a patrol party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur district on Wednesday evening.
Khar Police Station House Officer Gul Zada said that the attackers targeted the Ababeel Squad – an exclusive patrolling force – at the time of Iftar near the Nawai Kallay area.
The squad was on a routine patrol when unidentified attackers opened fire on them, he said, adding that four policemen died on the spot while two others were “seriously injured”.
Separately, Bajaur police spokesperson Israr Khan said that the personnel were on their way to the Bajaur police lines from Inayat Kallay bazaar, with their duty hours about to end, when they were attacked.
As a result, four cops – Yar Zada, Dawood Khan, Imran Khan and Siraj Khan – were martyred while Irshad Khan and Azizur Rehman were injured, he added.
SHO Gul Zada said the injured policemen were immediately taken to the district headquarters hospital in Khar for treatment.
Meanwhile, a police team led by senior officials immediately rushed to the site of the incident and launched a search operation to hunt down the attackers, who had fled after the shooting, Israr Khan said.
The attack in Bajaur took place a day after seven police personnel were martyred in two attacks in KP, where law enforcers have increasingly come under attack in recent days.
Pakistan has boosted security and arrested dozens of suspects as it fears a rising wave of militant attacks following its air strikes in Afghanistan, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry said on Wednesday.
“Our forces are on high-alert to combat any attacks,” Chaudhry told Reuters.
“You know the militants always react whenever we go after their hideouts in Afghanistan.”
Pakistan carried out air strikes on targets in Afghanistan over the weekend on what it said were militant targets responsible for a spate of recent suicide bombings on Pakistani soil.
Islamabad blames Kabul for allowing the fighters to use Afghanistan as a safe haven.
Pakistani and Afghan forces exchanged fire along their border on Tuesday, with each side accusing the other of initiating the clash.
Chaudhry said the retaliatory attacks by militants proved Islamabad’s case that they had linkages in Afghanistan, adding that the forces had averted several attacks in recent weeks and arrested a number of suspects, including Afghans.
Security forces have accelerated search and intelligence based operations and “have arrested dozens of suspected militants, their handlers and their facilitators,” the minister said.
Multiple sources added that Pakistan’s intelligence agencies have issued alerts for a possible surge in terror attacks in Pakistan in coming days.
Urban centres, markets, security forces and places of worship could be possible targets, according to the alerts, the sources said.
“We have been given a strong caution about more terror attacks in our official communications. In this regard, we have almost doubled our search operations across Pakistan,” said an intelligence official.
Militancy is a growing problem for Pakistan with the number of attacks rising every year since 2022, according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), a global monitoring organisation.