Shootout in northwestern Pakistan leaves senior police officer, two militants dead

Policemen stand guard outside a mosque in Karachi, Pakistan on January 31, 2023. (AFP/File)
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Updated 27 February 2024
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Shootout in northwestern Pakistan leaves senior police officer, two militants dead

  • Shootout between police and militants took place in northwestern city of Mardan, says police official 
  • Pakistani Taliban have routinely targeted security forces in northwestern province bordering Afghanistan

PESHAWAR: Pakistani police raided a militant hideout in the country’s northwest early Tuesday, triggering an intense shootout in which a senior police officer was killed and two others were wounded, a local police official said.

Two militants were also killed in the exchange of fire in Mardan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Hidayat Ullah told reporters.

Ullah identified the slain police superintendent as Ijaz Khan, who led the raid. Ullah provided no further information about the slain militants, saying officers were still investigating.

The Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, routinely target security forces in the northwest bordering Afghanistan. The TTP are a separate group but they are allies of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as US and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout.