Militants are giving hell to Pakistan's security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as several soldiers have lost their lives in relentless ambushes in recent days. Not long after an Army Major was killed during an operation against the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Dera Ismail Khan, a police officer on guard at a checkpoint in the same district was also killed in an attack by the group, Pakistan media reports said.
The attacks in Dera Ismail Khan district were reported a day after 11 security personnel, including a lieutenant colonel and a major, were killed in a gunfight with TTP militants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Orakzai district.
Police and security personnel have come under fire in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Bannu, Peshawar, Karak, Lakki Marwat and Bajaur region in recent days, Pakistan media reports said. In the latest attack, a police checkpoint in Khutti area was surrounded and attacked by the TTP militia, The Dawn said in a report. Ahmed Nawaz, who was the checkpoint in charge during the attack on Wednesday late evening, was seriously injured during the attack and succumbed to his injuries later in the hospital, the daily added.
Major Sibtain Haider was killed during an intelligence-based operation against the TTP that is sometimes called the Fitna al Khwarij. Five terrorists were killed as the gunbattle resumed, reports had said.
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Pakistan has seen a surge in militant attacks, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, after the banned TTP called off its ceasefire with the government in November 2022 and vowed to target security forces, police, and law enforcement agencies.
In another development, at least six people, including drivers of a petroleum company and irrigation department officials, were abducted by unidentified men on Thursday. The abductions were made in two separate incidents in Bannu district, bordering North Waziristan, on Wednesday. Four drivers of a petroleum company were abducted along with four trucks from the Baka Khel area.
According to data obtained from the Bannu district administration, 23 people have been kidnapped in the district in the last one and a half months, reported news agency PTI.