Pakistan: Two killed as TTP militants attack security post in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Image used for representational purpose. File photo

At least two Pakistani policemen were killed and as many injured when the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants attacked a police checkpoint in the country's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, media reports said on Thursday, reported PTI.

The attack occurred late on Wednesday in Peshawar city's Regi Model Town when a group of TTP militants opened fire on a police check post, the Dawn newspaper reported.

The assailants opened fire at the policemen at around 11:45 pm when police personnel were switching duties at the entrance of the Regi Model Town, Regi Superintendent of Police Arshad Khan was quoted as saying in the report. Khan said at least 17 shots were fired from across a river, around 30 metres from where a police van was parked, killing two policemen and injuring as many.

The banned TTP claimed responsibility for the attack. A search operation was launched, and additional police contingents were deployed in the area following the attack, The News International quoted Peshawar police spokesman Muhammad Alam as saying.

The TTP was set up as an umbrella group of several militant outfits in 2007. Recently, Pakistan has been hit by a wave of terrorist activities orchestrated by the banned terror outfit.

On January 30, a Pakistan Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up during the afternoon prayers in a mosque in Peshawar, killing 101 people and injuring more than 200 others. In February, TTP militants stormed the Karachi Police chief's office in Pakistan's most populous city, sparking gunfire that killed three rebels and four others, including two police constables.

The outfit, which is believed to be close to Al-Qaeda, has been blamed for several deadly attacks across Pakistan, including an attack on army headquarters in 2009, assaults on military bases, and the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. The TTP also orchestrated the heinous Army Public School attack in Peshawar in 2014, in which over 130 students were killed.

In other news in Pakistan, the former prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday again apologised for his controversial remarks against a female judge, saying he was sorry if he crossed the line. Just months after his ouster in April 2023, Khan in a fiery speech threatened Islamabad's top police officials and judge Zeba Chaudhry and said he would not "spare" them and file cases against them for "torturing" his party leader Shahbaz Gill.

(PTI)