Over 11 Police Officers Dead After Militant Assault In Northwest Pakistan

At least 11 police officers were killed and 28 injured after heavily armed militants attacked a security post in northwestern Pakistan, officials said on Thursday.

The attack targeted the Khazina police post in Hangu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, police official Irfan Khan told AP. Security forces killed 15 militants in an hour-long gunbattle.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has stepped up attacks on Pakistani security forces in the region in recent months.

Police said the militants attacked the police post with heavy weapons. Reinforcements dispatched to the scene were ambushed en route, damaging an armoured personnel carrier before officers fought back, as per reports.

Police Response And Visit By IGP

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police initially reported that four militants had been killed and that the operation was ongoing, according to a post on the force's official X account.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Inspector General Zulfiqar Hameed visited the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar to inquire about the health of police personnel injured in the clash, according to a post on the force's official X account. "You are our national heroes. The courage and bravery you showed was outstanding. Your spirit and courage are an example for the entire force," he said, according to the post.

The attack comes amid a surge in militant violence in Pakistan in recent years, much of it blamed on the TTP, a separate group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who returned to power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly accused Afghanistan's Taliban government of providing sanctuary to TTP militants, an allegation Kabul denies.