Two cops injured as militants attack check post in Pakistan’s Mianwali

ISLAMABAD: At least two policemen were injured after more than a dozen militants attacked a check post in the eastern Pakistani town of Mianwali on Monday, with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi applauding security forces for foiling the assault.

Pakistan has seen a rise in militant attacks in recent weeks, including a series of coordinated attacks in southwestern Balochistan last month in which over 50 people were killed. Separatist militants seeking the resource-rich region’s secession have been targeting government forces and projects being developed as part of the $65-billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). 

Elsewhere in the country, particularly the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, religiously motivated groups like the Pakistani Taliban have also stepped up attacks, daily targeting security forces convoys and check posts, and carrying out targeted killings and kidnappings of security and government officials.

In the latest attack, up to 14 militants attacked the Qabool Khel police check post in Punjab’s Mianwali with rockets and hand grenades on Monday.

“Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has commended the police for foiling a terrorist attack on a check post in Mianwali,” state news agency APP reported. “He said that the police gave a befitting response to the terrorists who attacked under the cover of darkness.”

Islamabad blames the latest surge in militancy by the Pakistani Taliban on Kabul and says it has consistently taken up the issue of cross-border attacks with the Taliban administration, which denies allowing Afghan soil to be used for attacks. 

The matter has led to clashes between the border forces of the two countries.