Quetta, July 7 (IANS) At least nine police personnel, including two Station House Officers (SHOs), were killed after armed assailants targetted a police post in Ziarat district of Pakistan’s Balochistan province, officials said on Tuesday, local media reported.
The armed men targetted the police post on Monday night, leading Pakistani daily Dawn reported, citing sources. A gunfight erupted between police and armed assailants for some time. But, the armed men managed to enter the premises.
Ziarat Deputy Commissioner (DC) Abdul Qudoos Achakzai confirmed the number of casualties in the incident. He said that the whereabouts of five police personnel were still unknown, adding that additional police personnel have been dispatched to the site of the incident. He said that the operation was being conducted to find the missing police personnel.
The incident occurred amid a rise in attacks targeting law enforcement personnel in Pakistan, especially in the border provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
On July 2, two police personnel, including an additional Station House Officer (SHO), were killed when armed assailants attacked a police patrol in Mohmand district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
According to the police, the attack took place near the Warsak Lift Canal in the Machni area, where police mobile patrol were attacked by armed assailants. The police said additional SHO and elite force constable were killed in the attack while the vehicle’s driver suffered injuries and was taken to Peshawar for treatment after receiving initial care, Dawn reported.
According to the police, Fitna al Khawarij terrorists, a term used by Pakistan for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was behind the attack.
Police, district administration officials and rescue teams reached at the site of the incident after receiving reports regarding the incident and initiated a rescue operation.
Earlier on June 27, four police personnel were injured after a bomb exploded near their vehicle in the Dasht area of Mastung district of Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
An explosive device was planted by unidentified assailants along the Mian Ghandi Link Road near Pir Wali and the blast took place when the police vehicle carrying prisoners from Dasht court to Mastung jail passed through the location, police said, Pakistan’s another daily The Express Tribune reported. The vehicle suffered damage in the explosion.
SHO, Dasht, Akhtar Muhammad said that the four police personnel were injured in the explosion and were provided medical treatment at the site of the incident.
–IANS
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