10 cops martyred in brazen DI Khan attack

Terrorists target police station in Daraban tehsil on Monday morning

DI KHAN:

In an escalation of violence days before the upcoming general elections, at least ten policemen including members of an elite force were martyred on Monday in a brazen attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) restive Dera Ismail Khan district.

According to officials, dozens of terrorists attacked the Chaudhwan police station located in the district’s Daraban tehsil first with sniper guns. The attack started at 3 am, as reported by Reuters.

"More than 30 terrorists launched the attack from three directions," K-P provincial police chief Akhtar Hayat Gandapur told AFP. "There was an exchange of fire for over two-and-a-half hours."

The attackers later entered the building, firing with automatic weapons and lobbing hand grenades, resulting in the deaths of ten policemen and injuries to at least six others. The Chaudhwan police station’s station house officer (SHO), however, remained unharmed.

Daraban Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Malik Aneesul Hassan told Reuters that most of the police casualties occurred due to grenade blasts.

Speaking to Express News, the DSP identified the martyred as four personnel of the K-P Elite Police Force— Assistant Sub-Inspectors (ASIs) Kausar, Ihtiram, Rafiullah, and Hamidul Haq. A platoon of Elite Force from Swabi was deployed at the police station, he added.

Other martyred policemen were Muhammad Islam, Ghulam Fareed, Muhammad Javaid, Muhammad Idris, Muhammad Imran, and Mansoor. The injured included Ahmad Hussain, Akbar Zaman, Anayatullah, Sohrab Khan, Ibrahim, and Nasib Khan.

Upon receiving reports of the attack, heavy contingents of police rushed to the police station. Security forces cordoned off the area and initiated a search operation in surrounding areas, including forests.

They established pickets on roads leading to South Waziristan, Drazanda, and Dera Ghazi Khan. The Pakistan Army was later deployed for the security of the police station.

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar "strongly condemned" the attack. "The entire nation stands with the police and security forces and salutes the martyrs," he said in a statement.

Read Three more cops martyred as terrorists step up attack on K-P police

A senior government official informed AFP about the "severe threat" in southern areas of the K-P, where Monday's assault took place.

"Terrorists have now begun to blend in with civilian populations in urban areas, making it difficult to conduct operations against them," the official said, requesting anonymity.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack and whether it was related to the election. On Wednesday, a National Assembly candidate was shot dead elsewhere in K-P, while another political leader was shot dead in his party's election office in Balochistan.

On Tuesday, a bomb attack following an election rally killed four people in Balochistan. The Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility.

In December, at least 23 soldiers were killed when a six-man suicide squad drove an explosive-laden truck into a military camp set up in a police station complex, also in Daraban.

Pakistan has seen a resurgence of attacks by terrorists, especially targeting security personnel, since 2022, when a ceasefire between the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the government broke down.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) last week confirmed that general elections would proceed as planned after holding an urgent meeting with security officials following a spate of violence in the K-P and Balochistan provinces.

Daraban lies in an area considered a stronghold of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F). The party chief, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, traveled last month to Afghanistan to meet the Taliban's supreme spiritual leader, one of his few known meetings with foreign dignitaries.

The party has also called for a delay in Pakistan's polls due to security concerns.

WITH INPUT FROM AFP and REUTERS