Pakistan: Police personnel shot dead in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Islamabad: A police personnel was killed after unidentified assailants opened fire on him in Sarvekai area of Upper South Waziristan district in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local media reported on Thursday, citing officials.
The officials said police constable, deployed at Sarvekai police station, was heading to perform his official duty when unidentified assailants opened fire on him near a stream in the Moley Khan Sarai area, Pakistan-based daily Dawn reported. He succumbed to his injuries at the site of the incident before medical assistance could reach him.
After the incident, police and law enforcement personnel rushed to the site of the incident and collected evidence. A search operation was initiated to find and arrest the perpetrators. Police officials said that probe was being conducted from multiple angles, Dawn reported.
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, local media reported.
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 for several hours, as reported by Pakistan’s another daily The Express Tribune.
District Police Officer Captain (retd) Muhammad Furqan Bilal said that the armed assailants tried to ram the explosives-laden vehicle into the police station, triggering an explosion before engaging in a gun battle 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 in an attempt to stop the arrival of police personnel and rescue teams.
The banned outfit Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that a vehicle carrying two-and-a-half tonnes of explosives had been driven into the police station, The Express Tribune reported.
Meanwhile, two police personnel were killed and 16 others injured during a gun battle with armed assailants at Haidaray Top in Lower Dir, The Express Tribune reported, citing official sources.
Sources said law enforcement agencies carried out a search and strike operation in Haidaray Top and Kurram after receiving reports about the presence of armed assailants when the attackers opened fire on the police. The exchange of fire occurred for several hours before subsiding after nightfall.
