Police officer killed, religious party leader injured as militant violence sweeps through northwest Pakistan

PESHAWAR: A senior police officer was killed and a religious party leader was injured in separate attacks in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), officials said on Friday, amid a surge in violence in the restive region.
The northwestern Pakistani province, which borders Afghanistan, has been the scene of a number of attacks on police, security forces and anti-polio vaccination teams in recent weeks.
In the latest attack on Friday morning, the in-charge of a police station was killed in Toi Khula, a rugged locality on the periphery of Wana, headquarters of the South Waziristan district, according to district police spokesman Habib Islam. 
“Rahman Dotani, station house officer (SHO) at police station Toi Khula, was killed in gunfire,” Islam said. “Police are investigating the case from different angles as the slain official had personal enmity as well.”
A day before, he said, Maulana Mirza Jan, a member of the Jamiat Ulema Islami (JUI) religious party, suffered serious injuries, when unidentified attackers ambushed his vehicle in Wana.
“Jan was returning from an event near Wana when the vehicle he was traveling in came under attack by unidentified assailants near Daja Ghundi village,” Islam said. “He is still struggling for life at a medical facility.”
Police have registered a report of the incident against unidentified assailants and are investigating the matter. 
Another prayer leader, Abdul Nasir, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen near a mosque in Bara area of the Khyber tribal district, while three policemen were killed in separate attacks in the province last week.
While no group claimed responsibility for the killings, officials suspected the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has claimed dozens of recent attacks, to be behind the latest spate of killings.
The deaths brought the total number of police killings in ambushes and targeted attacks in the volatile province to 60 this year, according to police.
Pakistan has witnessed a spike in militant violence in its two western provinces, KP and Balochistan, since the TTP called off its fragile truce with the government in November 2022.
Islamabad has blamed the surge in violence on militants operating out of neighboring Afghanistan. Kabul denies the allegation and says rising violence in Pakistan is a domestic issue of Islamabad.