KP Police. PHOTO: EXPRESS/ARCHIVE
PESHAWAR:
Two police officers and a security guard were killed in separate shootings Monday in Bannu, authorities said. The express PAkGazette.
The first attack occurred outside an office of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) in the Baka Khel area, where gunmen opened fire on security personnel. Two officers, Constable Rafiullah and security guard Gul Shah Noor, died on the spot.
A heavy police contingent arrived shortly after the incident, but the attackers managed to flee. The bodies of the officers were shifted to Bannu District Central Hospital for post-mortem examination.
In another incident near Miryan Kinger police station, another police officer, Sher Muhammad, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen. Authorities have launched a comprehensive search operation and checkpoints across the district in response to the attacks.
Condemning the incidents, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi paid tribute to the victims and stated that “the people of the province share the pain of the families of the martyrs.”
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also strongly condemned the attacks. “Guard Gul Shah Noor and Constable Rafiullah achieved the great status of martyrdom while doing their duty,” he said, adding that “by sacrificing their lives in the line of duty, both the personnel set a great example of bravery.”
Read: 37 terrorists killed when border attack is thwarted
On Friday, five people, including women and a child, were martyred and several others injured, including at least one police officer, in a suicide attack targeting the Domel police station in Bannu. Initial reports suggest that the terrorists attempted to crash a car loaded with approximately 1,000 to 1,500 kilograms of explosives into the wall of the Domel police station but, failing to breach it, detonated the explosives in a nearby civilian area.
Authorities said effective defensive measures prevented the attacker from breaking into the police station. However, the explosion in the nearby civilian area caused civilian casualties.
In another attack on police last week, seven people, including three policemen, were injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in the Sarai Naurang area of Lakki Marwat in KP, targeting a police vehicle near a vegetable market.
KP has been fighting terrorism since the US expulsion from Afghanistan, and terrorists often cross the border to attack police convoys and vehicles, resulting in the deaths of several officials and staff.
Read more: Pak questions experts on TTP presence in Afghanistan
Last month, at least seven police personnel, including the station house officer of Shadi Khel, were martyred in an improvised explosive device blast near a police mobile in Lakki Marwat. A week earlier, two policemen were killed and 15 people, including five policemen, were injured in an improvised explosive device blast in Rustam Bazaar area of Wana in Lower South Waziristan.
The province has witnessed a rise in terrorist attacks, accounting for the highest number of incidents in the country. Out of a total of 5,397 incidents reported last year, KP recorded 3,811, followed by Balochistan with 1,557 incidents. Only 29 incidents were reported in the rest of the country. During the year, a total of 2,597 terrorists were killed.
