Karachi: At least 10 Pakistani police personnel were killed in a militant attack on an outpost near the northwestern city of Dera Ismail Khan near the Afghan border. About 20 to 25 militants launched a heavy assault on a post of the Frontier Constabulary, a police assistance force, in the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Islamist militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed the responsibility of the attack.
‘The intense exchange of fire lasted for nearly an hour. Ten Frontier Constabulary personnel were martyred, and seven were wounded during the attack,’ a senior intelligence officer said to media.
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Pakistan has seen an increase in militancy since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021, with the Pakistani chapter of the movement carrying out attacks mostly targeting security forces. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is separate from the Afghan Taliban movement, but pledges loyalty to the Islamist group .Islamabad says the TTP uses Afghanistan as a base and says the ruling Taliban administration has provided safe havens to the group close to the border. The Taliban deny this.
One policeman was killed in a separate attack carried out on Thursday night, also close to the Afghan border in Khyber district. Last month a police convoy escorting foreign ambassadors was targeted in road side blast that left a policeman dead.