At least six policemen were shot and killed by unidentified gunmen in Lakki Marwat city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday, authorities said.
Officials said the law enforcement personnel died when their mobile patrol came under gunfire in the morning.
According to Radio Pakistan, which described the incident as a terrorist attack, the slain men also included the driver. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Mahmood Khan, chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, sought a report from Moazzam Jah Ansari, chief of the provincial police.
In a statement, Khan termed the incident “very unfortunate” and said the “sacrifice of the martyrs will not be in vain”. He also extended condolences to the families of the victims.
The prime minister also condemned the incident. “Terrorists are the enemies of Pakistan and every possible step will be taken to safeguard the country,” he said in a statement.
Paying tribute to the killed police, Shehbaz Sharif said the “whole nation salutes the sons of the soil who sacrificed their lives for the motherland”.
He urged the provincial government to immediately announce a financial assistance package for the police personnel.
Attacks on security forces and civilians have recently increased in various parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. More than 450 people, mostly security forces, have been killed in such attacks, in the first nine months of 2022 alone.
“The scale of [Wednesday’s] attack shows the extent to which terrorism has spread in our province,” tweeted Mohsin Dawar, an MP from Miran Shah tehsil of North Waziristan district. “The mainstream and the state have chosen to ignore the large protests against Talibanisation in [Khyber] Pakhtunkhwa,” claimed Dawar who is a member of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition movement.
Islamabad has attributed the resurgence in militancy to the Taliban takeover of conflict-torn Afghanistan, where Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants have taken refuge and continue to direct cross-border attacks from there.
