Islamabad, Feb 6 (EFE).- At least three policemen were killed and six others were wounded as militants of the Pakistani Taliban attacked a police checkpost in Karak district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province early Thursday morning, police said.
The attackers, armed with heavy weapons, launched a barrage of gunfire at Bahadur Khel police checkpost in Bandi Daud Shah tehsil of Karak district.
“Unknown terrorists attacked Bahadur Khel police checkpost in Bandi Daud Shah tehsil early Thursday in which three policemen have been martyred and six others are injured,” Hidayat Ullah, a police official at Karak police control, told EFE.
The official said that the injured have been shifted to Peshawar for medical treatment, where three of them are in critical condition.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Pakistani Taliban, in a statement claimed responsibility for the attack.
Following the attack, security forces immediately arrived at the site and cordoned off the area. The forces also launched a search operation to apprehend the perpetrators, added the police official.
Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack by the Taliban militants and offered his condolences to the families of the killed policemen, a statement from his office said.
“Terrorists of Fitnah-ul-Khawarij (Taliban) launched a cowardly attack on the police post in the dark of night,” the minister was quoted as saying.
Pakistan has seen a surge in militant attacks, particularly in the KP and Balochistan provinces, both bordering Afghanistan.
The government has, on several occasions, urged the Afghan Taliban to take action against what it says are hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban on Afghan soil.
The interim government of the Afghan Taliban refuses to acknowledge the presence of any sanctuaries located in Afghanistan. Relations between the two neighbors have deteriorated since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021. EFE
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