PESHAWAR: Two policemen were killed and three injured in a pre-dawn militant attack on the offices of Al-Hajj Group of Companies, an oil and gas exploration setup operating on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan district in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, confirmed a senior police official on Tuesday.
According to details on its website, Al-Hajj Group is an emerging Pakistani conglomerate which is not only working on oil exploration but also dealing in textiles, metals and automobile manufacturing. The attack on its facility followed a surge in militant violence in the country’s western provinces bordering Afghanistan which have also witnessed a number of suicide bombings in the recent months.
“An unknown number of terrorists fired mortars at the Al-Hajj oil and gas exploration facility,” Regional Police Officer (RPO) Nasir Hussain Satti told Arab News. “Police personnel at the site repulsed the attack. However, two of them were martyred and three suffered injuries in the ensuing gun fight.”
He said all employees of the company were safe, adding that one of the wounded policemen in critical condition was treated at a hospital.
The RPO informed a heavy police contingent had been sent to the area to launch a search operation soon after the attack.
When contacted, an Al-Hajj Group official declined to comment on the incident.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s caretaker chief minister Azam Khan expressed grief over the loss of lives in a statement, saying the province’s police force had offered unparalleled sacrifices for the restoration of peace in the region.
“These kinds of dastardly attacks will not demoralize the police force,” he added.
This was the fifth militant attack targeting Dera Ismail Khan within a week. Last Sunday, heavily armed people attacked police checkpoints in the district, though they later escaped after getting resistance. One policeman suffered injuries in the exchange of fire.
On Friday, police and security forces also came under two separate attacks in the same district in which seven people, including a security personnel, lost their lives and 23 others were injured.
Adnan Bitani, a senior journalist and analyst based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told Arab News that fighters belonging to various militant factions started targeting police and security forces along with government installations soon after the Taliban swept back in power in neighboring Afghanistan about two years ago.
“Dera Ismail Khan is a soft target for militants due to multiple factors,” he said. “One, there were several groups of fighters who are now closely coordinating with each other after forging an alliance with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) network. Two, the region is underprivileged, has rampant poverty and a weak government writ. All this makes it easier for the militants to carry out such attacks.”
Bitani said militants had also been using advanced weapons, such as laser guns, sniper rifles and other sophisticated military hardware.
Pakistani officials have frequently said militants targeting their country operate from Afghanistan, urging the Taliban administration in Kabul to prevent their territory to be used as a staging ground for such attacks.
