Gunmen kill five police officers in north-west Pakistan near Afghan border
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DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – Gunmen ambushed a police vehicle and killed five officials in north-west Pakistan on Feb 24, the police said, as the South Asian nation struggles to quell a rising wave of militant attacks and faces renewed border tensions with neighbouring Afghanistan
The ambush in Kohat city, situated along the border with Afghanistan, came a day after a drone and gun attack killed three paramilitary troops in the nearby city of Karak.
“Several gunmen attacked a police patrol. A senior officer is among (the) five policemen dead. They also burned the vehicle,” a Kohat police spokesperson said.
No group has claimed responsibility for either attack.
Pakistan carried out air strikes in Afghanistan on Feb 21 – at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan – targeting what it said were militants responsible for a spate of recent suicide bombings on Pakistani soil
Kabul and the UN have said the strikes killed at least 13 civilians.
Islamabad has said militant groups have been provided sanctuary in Afghanistan, from where they plan and execute attacks across the border.
Afghanistan has denied the charge, saying the militancy is Pakistan’s internal problem.
“Pakistan’s attack was an act of terror that targeted civilians on Afghan soil and violated Afghanistan’s sovereignty,” Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Feb 24.
The districts bordering Afghanistan have long been home to a variety of Islamist militant groups, including the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, who have fought against the state since 2007. REUTERS
