TANK: At least five police personnel were martyred on Monday when a remote-controlled bomb exploded near an armoured police vehicle on Gomal Bazaar road in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Tank district.
Police said the blast completely destroyed the armoured vehicle, which was returning from Gomal Police Station. Additional Station House Officer Ishaq Khan was among those martyred in the attack.
Following the explosion, law enforcement agencies rushed to the site, cordoned off the area and launched an investigation to determine those responsible for the attack.
The latest incident comes amid a surge in attacks on police personnel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Just last week, four policemen were martyred in separate firing incidents in Lakki Marwat and Bannu districts.
In Lakki Marwat, unidentified motorcycle-riding assailants opened fire on traffic police personnel in Sarai Naurang city, killing three officers. In a separate incident in Bannu, a police constable, Rashid Khan, was martyred after unidentified individuals opened fire on him in the Mandan area while he was heading to report for duty.
A day earlier, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police claimed to have foiled a major terror bid by neutralising eight terrorists during joint operations conducted with the Counter-Terrorism Department in Bannu, Khyber and Zahir Garhi areas of Peshawar. Police said the slain militants were involved in attacks on security forces and that a large cache of weapons and equipment was recovered during the operations.
KP Inspector General of Police Zulfiqar Hameed praised the police and CTD personnel for their bravery and said targeted operations would continue to maintain law and order in the province.
Terrorist attacks have increased sharply in Pakistan, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, since 2021. According to the military’s media wing, tens of thousands of intelligence-based operations have been carried out nationwide as part of ongoing counterterrorism efforts, with a significant number of militants killed during these operations.
