Peshawar, Aug 14 (PTI) - In a tragic series of terrorist attacks across Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, at least five police personnel lost their lives, and eight others sustained injuries, as reported by officials on Thursday.
The wave of violence occurred on Wednesday, targeting various police stations and checkpoints across the province.
In Peshawar, a police constable was killed, and another was injured during attacks on the Hassan Khel police station and two check posts. Security forces successfully repelled these assaults.
Meanwhile, in Upper Dir, a Quick Response Force vehicle was ambushed by terrorists, resulting in the deaths of three policemen and injuries to eight others. The injured personnel were immediately transported to the District Headquarters Hospital for medical treatment, and a search operation was launched in response.
In Lower Dir, two separate attacks on police checkpoints located in Maidan, Lajbok, and Shadas tragically claimed the life of another police constable.
Furthermore, in the Khyber district, heavily-armed militants attacked a joint Frontier Corps-police checkpoint at Sakhi Pul. Despite the assault, the security forces repelled the attackers with a robust retaliatory response.
Similar attacks in the Nasir Bagh and Mattani areas were thwarted by police without any reported casualties.
In Bannu, militants targeted the Mazangha check post within the jurisdiction of the Hovid Police Station, but fortunately, no casualties were reported.
In Charsadda district, early Thursday morning, unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants launched a grenade at the Tarlandi check-post under the Nasta Police Station. The device did not result in any casualties or damage.
In response to these incidents, security has been heightened at all police stations and checkpoints throughout the province, with forces placed on high alert to counter further threats.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur condemned these attacks, labeling them as acts of "cowardice."
"Such incidents will not dampen the morale of our police," he affirmed.
Over recent months, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has experienced a notable increase in attacks on police forces, notably in regions such as Bannu, Peshawar, Karak, Lakki Marwat, and Bajaur.
The country has been grappling with an uptick in terror activities over the past year, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, following the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ending its ceasefire with the government in November 2022.
A spokesperson for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police's Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) announced on Thursday that it has successfully dismantled the Daesh Khorasan network in Peshawar.
The spokesperson further mentioned that the department has proposed the establishment of counter-cyber terrorism police stations to the government.
(Only the headline of this report may have been reworked by Editorji; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)