Islamabad, July 30 (IANS) At least nine police personnel were killed, and 28 others injured after armed assailants targeted Khazina Banda checkpost in Hangu district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local media reported on Thursday.
Fitna al Khawarij, a term used by the state for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) Pakistan, was behind the attack, according to the statement released by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General (IG) Zulfiqar Hameed, Pakistan-based daily Dawn reported.
Hameed said that police personnel responded to the attack and additional forces were sent to the site. He said that nine police personnel, including a deputy superintendent of police (DSP), were killed while 28 others were injured during the exchange of fire between police and armed assailants.
The incidents occurred amid a rise in attacks targeting law enforcement personnel in Pakistan, especially in the border provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
On July 15, at least two policemen were killed and 26 people, including 22 police personnel, were injured after armed assailants carried out attacks in Bannu and Lower Dir districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Six police personnel and four people were injured after armed assailants attacked the Miryab police station using an explosives-laden vehicle. Following the blast, a heavy exchange of fire between the attackers and police lasted for several hours, Pakistan’s another daily, The Express Tribune, reported.
District Police Officer Captain (retd) Muhammad Furqan Bilal said that the armed assailants tried to ram the explosives-laden vehicle into the police station, causing an explosion and exchange of fire with security personnel.
According to the sources, the armed assailants, before the attack, blew up a previously damaged bridge on the road leading to the police station to stop the police personnel and rescue teams from reaching the spot, The Express Tribune reported.
In a separate incident, two police personnel were killed and 16 others injured during an exchange of fire with armed assailants in Lower Dir’s Haidaray Top.
–IANS
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