Three cops were martyred and five others were injured on Monday after assailants opened fire on a police vehicle in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Diamer district, local and hospital officials said.
The police team was on its way back from Thor village after destroying poppy cultivation when unidentified assailants opened indiscriminate fire on the vehicle, Caretaker Home Minister Sajid Baig told.
As a result, three police officials were martyred and five others, including a deputy superintendent of police (DSP), were injured, according to an incident report issued by the Chilas RHQ Hospital.
The report, said three police personnel were brought dead to the hospital, while five injured personnel were shifted to the facility’s Emergency Department.
“Among the injured, three individuals are undergoing surgical intervention, while the remaining two sustained minor injuries [and] are being treated at the hospital,” the report said.
The martyred cops were identified as Abdul Reheem Jami, Muqabil Shah and Hazratullah Musa. The injured personnel comprised DSP Faqeer Muhammad, Rehmatullah, Nakeel Ahmed, Niamat Saeed and Muhammad Nadir.
Following the shooting, an exchange of fire between the police and the miscreants continued for several hours. An additional contingent of police and law enforcement personnel had been sent to the site of the incident, Baig said.
The minister noted that the police team was attacked when returning from a two-day operation to destroy poppy crops “spread over a vast area of land”.
Meanwhile, considering the situation, the health ministry declared an emergency in the local hospitals of Diamer and directed the doctors and paramedical staff to remain alert.
In a statement, the caretaker home minister also condemned the incident. He expressed his heartfelt sympathy and condolences to the families of the martyrs and directed that the best medical facilities be provided to the injured.
He said that such cowardly attacks would not demoralise the nation and every attempt to disrupt law and order would be foiled. Baig also directed the relevant agencies to conduct an immediate and transparent investigation into the incident and said that the involved elements would be brought to justice as soon as possible.
He reiterated the resolve that peace and order would be maintained in Gilgit-Baltistan at all costs, and the protection of the lives and property of the people was the government’s top priority.
Every year, the poppy crop is harvested in the area to prepare opium, while police conduct operations to destroy the crops.
Police have previously destroyed poppy crops in multiple areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Baranj tehsil in Bajaur, Bittani subdivison of Lakki Marwat district, Mohmand tribal district and mountainous areas of Raza tehsil in Swabi.
Separately, a policeman deployed to protect an anti-polio team was martyred and four others were injured when unidentified assailants opened fire on them in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hangu on Monday.
Hangu SDPO Mujahid Hussain said that the attack targeted a police van carrying a team of five personnel assigned to provide security to a polio vaccination team in the Chapri Waziran area. All of the policemen sustained bullet wounds in the shooting, but one of them later succumbed to his injuries, he revealed.
The remaining injured personnel were shifted to a medical facility, the SDPO added.
The Pakistan Polio Programme officially commenced its second National Immunisation Days (NIDs) campaign of 2026 on Monday, to make Pakistan a polio-free nation.
The five-day countrywide campaign aims to immunise over 45 million children under five years of age. This effort is seen as a decisive step in the country’s final push to stop poliovirus transmission and achieve eradication by the end of 2025.
NEOC confirmed the first wild polio case of 2026 in a four-year-old child from Bello Union Council, Sujawal district, Sindh, last month.
The case was reported through the polio surveillance network and confirmed by the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad.
In 2025, Pakistan’s PEI carried out five nationwide campaigns, in addition to targeted rounds of oral and injectable polio vaccination and integrated activities with the national routine immunisation programme.
While the overall trend shows a decline in poliovirus detections compared to 2024, reflecting the impact of high-quality vaccination campaigns conducted in 2025, virus circulation persists in certain high-risk areas, including districts of Sindh and southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
These detections underscore the continued need for robust, targeted efforts to interrupt transmission and consistent vaccination for children.