Militants kill 2 policemen in attack on Sarband checkpost

Three militants killed, rest escape after killing two policeman in a late night attack.

PESHAWAR: Over a hundred militants attacked the Riaz Shaheed Police Post in Sarband, late on Thursday, killing two policemen and leaving 11 others injured. 

Three militants were also killed in the attack, while the rest escaped.

In a late night attack on a security checkpost in Sarband area on the outskirts of Peshawar, Khyber Agency, heavily armed militants opened fire with rocket propelled grenades and other heavy arms. Sources said the militants managed to escape after a tense battle of more than four hours. In the counter operation, two nearby houses were also destroyed.

“The police and Frontier Corps (FC) were pushed back, but we are gearing up for a counter-operation,” Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Tahir Ayub told The Express Tribune.

Tahir added that the attack was in reaction to an operation by security forces which had been launched in Bara-Badhaber , bordering the Khyber Agency on January 12th.

“We, along with the paramilitary forces, destroyed three of their important hideouts," the SSP of the operation, before adding that almost a 150 militants took part in the retaliatory attack on the police checkpost.

Sources said that the militants took up positions on two sides of the checkpost before firing their rockets.

As the security forces retaliated, a nearby police posts also responded to the attack, the SSP said.

“Nearby houses are being vacated,” a resident from the area told The Express Tribune.

It was unclear whether the attack had ended or was still on going as additional police personnel were still being called in to the checkpost.

A source at the Hayatabad Medical Complex told The Express Tribune that nine injured men had been brought to the hospital so far, most of them FC personnel.

The SSP confirmed that five security officials had been injuried.

There have been several attacks in the area in the past. However, recently  the outskirts of Peshawar have become increasingly dangerous after a period of calm.

Earlier on Tuesday, January 10, at least 30 people were killed and dozens wounded when a remote-controlled bomb went off in a busy Jamrud market, believed to have been targeting members of a tribal militia.