PESHAWAR: Unidentified gunmen on Monday shot dead two policemen in separate incidents in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, police said, amid a surge in militancy in the province bordering Afghanistan.

In the first incident, gunmen abducted Sajjad Hussain, a police constable who was traveling home on leave, in KP’s Tank district and later shot him dead, according to district police spokesman Younus Khan.

“The martyred constable, Sajjad Hussain, was posted at the Nasran checkpoint,” Khan told Arab News. “He was intercepted, forced off his vehicle, and shot on Shah Alam–Nasran Road by militants.”

Another policeman, Assistant Sub-Inspector Mumtaz Ali, who was posted in Tank, was shot dead by gunmen in Pezu area of the nearby Lakki Marwat district, according to the Tank district police spokesman.

“The officer, who was posted in Tank, was on his way to his duty station when assailants intercepted his vehicle, forced him out, and opened fire, killing him on the spot,” Khan added.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the killings, which come a day after police killed eight militants in KP’s Karak district.

Pakistan has struggled to contain a surge in militancy in KP in recent years. Militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have frequently targeted convoys of security forces, police stations and check-posts besides kidnapping government officials in the region.

Islamabad has frequently accused Afghanistan of allowing its soil and India of backing militant groups, including the TTP, for attacks against Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi have consistently denied this.