Nine Khasadar officials killed in Mohmand Agency

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claims responsibility for both attacks

SHABQADAR: Nine Khasadar force officials were killed as suspected militants launched two attacks in Mohmand Agency late Wednesday night.

Two separate groups of militants struck almost simultaneously at a police checkpoint in the Pandyali area of Mohmand district where they killed seven, and at a solar-powered tube well in Michni area of the same region where they shot dead two police who were standing guard.



"The attacks came at around 1:00 am. It was pitch black and the policemen were caught unaware. The militants struck suddenly and killed them without giving them a chance to fight back," Naveed Akbar, an administration official in the region, told AFP.

Akbar said that the attackers also torched the police post and destroyed the tube well.

Another senior administration official, Mehmud Aslam, confirmed the incidents, which were later claimed by the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group.

"We claim responsibility for both the attacks," TTP JA said in a statement emailed to the media.



Mohmand is one of Pakistan's seven tribal districts which border Afghanistan and have been home to al Qaeda and Taliban led militants.

Political administration officials and security forces arrived at the site and began a search operation.