A roadside bomb killed 4 policemen in northwest Pakistan as they scrambled to guard a neighborhood police station beneath siege by Taliban terrorists, officers mentioned Thursday.
Pakistan has witnessed rising assaults by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for the reason that Afghan Taliban retook Kabul in 2021, and police are more and more on the frontline of Islamabad’s bid to quell the motion.
TTP fighters launched a heavy-weapons assault early Thursday on a police station in Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which abuts the border with Afghanistan.
Four officers, together with a deputy superintendent, had been killed by a bomb as they rushed towards the struggle in a “planned act of terrorism,” senior native police official Muhammad Ashfaq advised Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Deputy superintendent Iqbal Mohmand was referred to as an “exceptional poet,” Ashfaq mentioned. “He was always the center of attention during poetic festivals,” he mentioned.
The TTP claimed accountability for the assault in an announcement Thursday and accused Mohmand of “brutally” killing its fighters. It mentioned there have been no TTP casualties.
The TTP is a separate motion from the Afghan Taliban, nonetheless, they share a typical lineage and beliefs.
Senior native administration official Tariqullah, who goes by one identify, mentioned the bomb pierced the armored personnel provider that was carrying the officers round 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the police station.
Five officers on the station, in addition to the driving force of the personnel provider, had been wounded, Tariqullah mentioned.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif mentioned on Twitter the assault “has left my heart heavy with sorrow.”
“Our police officers and soldiers have made unforgettable sacrifices in the war against terrorism,” he mentioned.
The TTP have lengthy focused legislation enforcement officers, who they accuse of conducting extrajudicial executions.
The TTP was based in 2007 when Pakistani terrorists combating alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan splintered off to focus assaults on Islamabad as payback for supporting the U.S. invasion after the 9/11 assaults.
They managed swaths of northwest Pakistan on the peak of their energy however had been largely routed by the army after a 2014 college raid that killed practically 150 folks, principally pupils.
Attacks have been steadily rising for the reason that Afghan Taliban’s return in Kabul, and Islamabad says the TTP are launching assaults from Afghan soil.
A shaky six-month cease-fire between the TTP and Islamabad failed in November.
In January, greater than 80 officers had been killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque inside a police compound within the northwestern metropolis of Peshawar.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
