Militants attack a security post in northwestern Pakistan, killing 10 officers

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Militants armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked a security post in northwestern Pakistan, killing 10 officers in intense gunfire, police said on Friday.

Local police Abdul Rauf said other security forces were injured in the overnight attack in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

He said the attackers suffered casualties but escaped with their killed and wounded accomplices as authorities sent reinforcements to a security post in the town of Draban.

Ali Amin Gandapur, chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in a statement paid tribute to the killed security forces and expressed condolences to the families of the victims.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicions likely lie with the Pakistani Taliban, who frequently target security forces across the country, particularly in former tribal regions in the restive northwest.

Security forces have recently conducted intelligence operations against the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, and have become bolder since the Afghan Taliban took power in Afghanistan in 2021.

The The TTP is a separate group but a close ally Afghan Taliban.

The attack on the security post occurred within 24 hours two separate operations during which security forces shot dead 19 insurgents in Bajur, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Mianwali, a city in the eastern province of Punjab.