The assailants were on two motorbikes. PHOTO: EXPRESS
A gunbattle erupted after the assault in which two militants were also killed, local police chief Mohammad Hussain told AFP.
The incident took place in the town of Rashakai, 40 kilometres east of Peshawar.
The area is close to the semi-autonomous tribal region where the Pakistani military has launched a series of operations against Taliban and al Qaeda linked militants.
The assailants were on two motorbikes, Hussain said. "They first lobbed a grenade and then opened fire on a police van parked near the road."
"Police retaliated, killing two militants while others managed to flee," he said.
Another police official Nasir Khan confirmed the casualties. "We have cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to arrest the fleeing militants," he added.
There was no claim of responsibility.
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@Abdullah khan: You have raised a very valid point. In Kashmir, the names of militants killed whether local or Pakistanis are published in newspapers and bodies of locals are handed over to their relatives for burial. Unfortunately, Pakistani security forces do not allow media to come near the encounter or area of bombarded sites and do not release any details of militants killed by them. Lack of transparency raises many doubts whether those killed were militants or civilians since there are no signs of militancy going down in Pakistan despite claims of thousands killed during encounters and mostly in aerial bombardments. Regarding your doubts whether Talibans are religious or criminals can be adjudged by their deeds and the same is not written on their faces. Their killing of innocent people by sending children for suicide blasts put them in the category of cold blooded murderers or barbarians and not religious. As such these actions even to propagate their ideology is forbidden in Islam and not done by religious or pious persons who would rather sacrifice their own lives to save lives of the innocents.
The army announces daily they killed ....taliban. but we didn't seen the dead bodies of taliban. Taliban are not jinns or Americans , They are the sons of our land. The security agencies didn't brought or send the dead bodies of Taliban to their families or homes, From where the people also identified them. When the people see them first their fear of taliban will be decrease to some extent secondly the people will also knows what tyPe of characters of peoples are present in taliban . Are they religious minded? Or they are criminals.? If they are criminal minded than the people will Reject the political leadership and their parties who are supporting taliban and they will withdraw their support in coming election. This is also the responsibility of Media to Expose their identity to the people.
Well done, keep the pressure on these killers regardless.