ISLAMABAD: Four police officers were killed and four others were injured when militants attacked a police station in northwestern Pakistan, police confirmed on Sunday.
The attack takes place a month after six police officers were killed in Lakki Marwat after a police van on patrol was attacked by militants at Shahabkhel Abbasa Road. The Pakistani Taliban had claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police spokesperson, militants attacked the Bargai police station in Lakki Marwat on Saturday night, leaving four cops dead and four others injured.
“Militants used heavy weapons in the attack [on the police station],” the police spokesperson said in a statement.
Among the police officers killed in the attack are Moharar Head Constable Ibrahim, Constable Sabz Ali, Constable Imran and Constable Khair-ur-Rahman, police said.
So far, no militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan took notice of the incident. He directed the Inspector-General Police KP to submit a report on the incident, vowing that the sacrifices of the slain cops would not go in vain.
“The chief minister ordered that the injured [cops] be provided the best medical treatment,” the chief minister’s office said in a statement.
According to Geo News, the militants escaped after the attack while police launched a search operation in the area.
The northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan borders Afghanistan and has seen militants largely known as Pakistani Taliban or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) operate in the area for many years.
The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group, but they are allies of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan more than a year ago as US and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout.
The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has emboldened the Pakistani Taliban. Although the Taliban in Afghanistan have encouraged Islamabad and the TTP to reach a peace agreement through dialogue, talks amid a cease-fire between the two sides that started in May proved futile.
Pakistan has repeatedly asked the Afghan Taliban regime to rein in the TTP from launching cross-border attacks into Pakistan.
