PESHAWAR: Two policemen were killed and three injured in a militant attack claimed by the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the country’s Lakki Marwat district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province on Monday evening, confirmed police officials.

The district was listed among the top four “terrorist hotspots” in KP by senior government functionaries last December.

The region’s police spokesperson, Shahid Marwat, told Arab News a police contingent was on routine patrol when it came under fire in the mountainous Pezzu neighborhood.

“The police party was patrolling the Pezzu area when gunmen opened fire, leaving two elite constables dead and three injured,” he added.

Hours after the incident, the proscribed TTP claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement.

Marwat said another police contingent was immediately sent to the crime scene soon after the incident to cordon off the area, but the perpetrators had already escaped.

Pakistan's interior minister Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti condemned the incident, saying the nation would "forever remember and honor the sacrifices" made by the police to uphold peace within the country.

“Such incidents cannot shake our morale,” he said in a statement, adding that the authorities should ensure the provision of the best medical facilities to the injured police personnel.

More than 15 percent of attacks carried out by the TTP in 2022 took place in the impoverished northwestern district of Lakki Marwat, making officials and residents suspect the area’s poor state infrastructure and a lack of government writ has turned it into a soft target for militants.

The TTP negotiated with Pakistani authorities while former prime minister Imran Khan was ruling the country. However, its top leadership unilaterally called off the fragile cease-fire with the government last November before resuming attacks in Pakistan.

The outlawed TTP has also intensified attacks in other parts of KP and southwestern Balochistan provinces.