MONITORING (SW) – At least 10 policemen have been killed in an attack in northern Pakistan as violence mounts in the run-up to national elections.
Police reported on Monday that attackers had targeted a police station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail district with heavy weapons. Alongside the 10 people killed, at least six others were injured.
Police said that they have cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to hunt down the attackers.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TPJ) issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack. The armed group is believed to be an offshoot of the outlawed Pakistani Taliban (TTP), which, seeking to overthrow the government and establish strict religious law, has targeted the state and its institutions for years. Dera Ismail Khan is a former TTP stronghold.
The remote northwestern region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has witnessed a rise in violence as Pakistan’s 128 million voters prepare for February 8 elections.
Rehan Zaib Khan, an independent candidate, and four aides were shot dead in the province’s Bajur district on January 31.
In December, the TPJ claimed responsibility for an attack in Tehsil Daraban during which a suicide bomber detonated an explosive-laden vehicle outside a police station. The attack killed at least 23 troops and wounded 32.
Last month, at least 101 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted a mosque in the regional capital Peshawar.
