Five police officers were killed Tuesday when gunmen opened fire on a police vehicle in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, authorities said.
The attackers set the vehicle on fire after shooting at it in the Karak district, police said. The officers were on duty when the ambush occurred.
Police identified the slain officers as Shahid Iqbal, Safdar, Arif, Samiullah and Muhammad Abrar.
The attack occurred near Aman Kot, in the Garagri Banda area. The mountainous region lies along the boundary between Karak, Kohat and Lakki Marwat districts and is considered very sensitive due to oil and gas reserves.
After the attack, the police cordoned off the area and launched a search operation. Investigators collected evidence from the scene and opened a formal investigation.
“We are investigating the incident from all angles and efforts are being made to locate the attackers,” said Saud, the Karak district police officer.
Oil and gas from Garagri Banda is supplied to several southern districts of the province, including Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Lakki Marwat, as well as Bhakkar. MOL Pakistan operates extraction in the area, with security provided by the Pakistan Army and other law enforcement agencies.
Read: DI Khan records 111 terrorist attacks in five years and 71 police officers martyred
The region has a history of militant violence. In the past, armed groups have attacked oil and gas facilities, and workers have been kidnapped at some of them.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attack and expressed grief over the deaths.
“The police have always played a frontline role in the fight against terrorism,” Sharif said. “The entire nation salutes the martyrs.”
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi also condemned the ambush.
“The sacrifices of the police personnel will not be in vain. The provincial government supports the police,” Afridi said.
The killings are the latest in a series of attacks against police in the province.
Last week, a police officer and his brother were shot dead in Lakki Marwat. Earlier this month, one officer was killed and five others were injured in a suicide bomb attack that hit a police vehicle in the same district.
In November, three police officers were killed while responding to a militant attack on a checkpoint in Hangu district.
.
