Pakistan: Terrorist, constable killed in attack on police checkpost in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [Pakistan], January 1 (ANI): A police constable and a terrorist were killed in Pakistan on Sunday after a gunman attacked a police checkpost in the Shahbaz Khel area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat District, a local police official said, according to a report in The Dawn.

According to The Dawn report, “Lakki Marwat police spokesperson Shahid Hameed said that terrorists attacked the police check post with heavy and automatic weapons and tried to break in. RPG-7s, grenades and other advanced weapons were used.” The police spokesperson said that the attack was thwarted as a result of the police’s timely action.

The policeman killed has been identified as Constable Tehsinullah of the Rapid Response Force. “A key terrorist was killed during the police’s retaliatory action,” Hameed said. He identified the terrorist as Owais Abdulkhel. Weapons were recovered from his possession.

According to Hameed, the suspect was wanted by the CTD (Counter Terrorism Department) Bannu for being allegedly involved in attacks on police and security forces.

The police are conducting a search operation in the area.
“The police constable’s funeral prayers were offered at the office of the Lakki Marwat district police officer on Sunday morning. Various police and army officials attended the prayers,” reported The Dawn.

The Dawn report also said: “The attack comes in the wake of a recent uptick in terrorist attacks across the country after the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended its months-long ceasefire with the government.”

Four people whom the Pakistani officials called “terrorists” were killed while one Pakistani soldier died on Saturday during an intelligence-based operation in the Bannu’s Jani Khel, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to Dawn.

According to Dawn citing a press release from the Inter-Services Public Relations, the troops “effectively engage[d]” the terrorists’ location and an “intense fire exchange” took place during which 25-year-old Sepoy Muhammad Waseem, a resident of Khairpur, fought “gallantly” and was killed.

Meanwhile, the terrorists killed had remained “actively involved in terrorist activities against security forces and killing of innocent citizens”, Dawn quoted ISPR as saying, adding that weapons and ammunition were recovered from them.

The year 2022 ended with the deadliest month for Pakistan’s security personnel in over a decade, said an Islamabad-based think tank as it pointed to the emergence of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as the biggest threat to the country.

In its annual report released on Saturday, the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) said Pakistan security forces lost at least 282 personnel during 2022 in attacks that included IED ambushes, suicide attacks, and raids on security posts, mostly in the Pakistan-Afghan border regions