In a series of tragic events in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, six security personnel, including a senior police officer, lost their lives while 12 militants were killed in separate terror incidents and security operations.
The Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of the Pakistan armed forces, reported that in Balochistan, four militants were killed in two separate incidents. Meanwhile, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, eight militants were killed in an operation in the Kot Sultan area of Kulachi tehsil in Dera Ismail Khan district.
The security forces recovered weapons, ammunition, and explosives from the slain militants. However, the violence escalated further when a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and two cops were killed in Lakki Marwat. The DSP, Gul Muhammad, along with other policemen, was attacked while returning from a checkpoint they had set up on the Peshawar-Karachi highway.
In another incident, a police official was killed and another injured by a remote-controlled improvised explosive device in Bajaur district. The surge in militant attacks has been attributed to the Taliban’s rise to power in Afghanistan, leading to strained relations between Islamabad and the Taliban rulers.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and K P Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur condemned the attacks and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice. The situation remains tense as Pakistan grapples with the escalating violence in the region.