Three cops martyred in Nowshera terror attack

Three more police personnel were martyred after unidentified armed men sprayed a mobile van with bullets on GT Road in the Akora Khattak area of Nowshera district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday, days after the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) called off the ceasefire.

A day earlier on Friday, a constable was gunned down in Mardan district by unidentified attackers. According to the police, unidentified miscreants opened fire at Ghundo police post in Baizai area, wounding Constable Fazl Haq of the elite force. He was rushed to the nearby hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

On Thursday, one man was killed and a security official injured in an attack on the Army Public School for Girls in the Azam Warsak area of South Waziristan.

According to the police, unidentified armed men opened fire from a nearby mountain during Parents’ Day celebrations and fled to the Pak-Afghan border area after security forces retaliated.

Read more: Unidentified men gun down cop in Charsadda

The deceased was identified as Masti Khan, who was passing by the school when a bullet hit him.

On the same day in Charsadda, Constable Zarmast Khan was returning home from duty when unidentified persons opened fire at him, killing him on the spot.

The deceased policeman was on night duty at the excise and taxation office and the incident took place in the jurisdiction of Tangi police station.

Further, the death toll from a suicide attack on a police truck in Quetta on Wednesday rose to four, as two more persons died during treatment.

The deceased included a child and a woman. Earlier, a suicide bomber targeted a truck transporting policemen for security of polio workers in Quetta’s Baleli area in the morning.

A policeman, a woman, and two children were among the dead, while 26 people, including 23 cops and two children, were injured. The TTP claimed responsibility for the attack.

The banned TTP has accepted responsibility for all of the attacks.

In Saturday’s incident, rescue teams rushed to the crime scene as soon as they received the information about the attack. The martyred include Head Constable Manzoor Khan, Driver Ayaz Khan, and Constable Amanullah who were patrolling GT Road.

The rescue teams shifted all the martyred police personnel to District Headquarter Hospital in ambulances.

District Police Officer Muhammad Umar Khan reached the spot.

Akora police cordoned off the area and started a search operation.

According to DSP Akora Khattak Arshad Khan, the officers in the police mobile vehicle were going on patrol from Nowshera towards Jahangira when the incident occurred in which unidentified armed suspects fired under the cover of darkness.

However, “the search operation is ongoing”.

Further, the year 2022 has been a bloody year for the K-P police as they have remained the primary target of militants.

K-P Inspector General of Police Moazzam Jah Ansari said that a total of 105 police personnel embraced martyrdom in 151 attacks across the province since January 2022.

According to a report issued by the Central Police Office (CPO), a total of 109 policemen sustained injuries during these attacks.

The report said the weapons left behind by NATO forces in Afghanistan were used against the K-P police including thermal imaging devices which enabled them to stage surprise attacks under the cover of darkness.

“These attacks were carried out by militants released from prisons after the fall of Kabul last year,” the report says.

It added that the biggest targets of militants were police mobile vehicles.

Meanwhile, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan took notice of the incident and sought a report from the IG police. "The incident is very tragic. The sacrifice of the martyrs will not go in vain," he added.

He prayed for the elevation of the ranks of the martyrs, expressing his heartfelt sympathy and condolences to the bereaved families.