PESHAWAR: At least two policemen were killed on Friday when a convoy of local judges came under attack in northwestern Pakistan, a police official confirmed, as the country grapples with a surge in militant attacks, particularly in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province bordering Afghanistan.
Pakistan has faced deadly attacks by the banned militant conglomerate Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) since an uneasy truce between them collapsed in November 2022.
The network, whose leadership is reportedly based in neighboring Afghanistan, has targeted civilians and security forces with impunity since its inception in 2007, prompting the military to launch multiple operations to dislodge its fighters from the country’s northwestern tribal region.
This is not the first time the lives of district judges have been endangered by militants operating in KP. Last April, Judge Shakirullah Marwat was abducted by unidentified kidnappers near a village at the junction of Tank and Dera Ismail (DI) Khan districts but was recovered after a few days.
“Two policemen have been killed who were part of the judges’ security squad,” District Police Officer Abdul Salam Khalid told Arab News on Friday. “The attack on the convoy occurred at the junction of Tank and DI Khan.”
The police official said two judges were traveling in separate cars from Dera Ismail Khan to South Waziristan when their convoy was ambushed by unidentified militants. He added more details related to the incident would be shared after the investigation was completed.
Meanwhile, Regional Police Officer Nasir Mehmood said the attack was not aimed at the judges but was instead carried out to target the police personnel.
“Attacks on police and law enforcement agencies occur on and off in the region,” he added.
Reacting to the attack, KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur described the targeting of judges and police as a “sad and condemnable” act, directing the authorities to submit a detailed report on the incident.
The province has witnessed a major increase in militant violence, with two policemen and a civilian killed this week in an attack on a police checkpoint in Khyber district.
Earlier in July, 10 soldiers and five civilians lost their lives in two separate attacks in the Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan districts of KP.
In the first attack, the army reported that a group of 10 militants attempted to enter the cantonment in Bannu in the early hours of July 15, while in the second attack, militants opened fire on rural health center staff.
In February, 10 policemen were killed and six others injured in an attack on the Chodwan police station in Dera Ismail Khan, a district that remains one of the most dangerous parts of KP due to frequent militant attacks.
Pakistan has blamed the recent surge in militant violence on the Taliban administration in Afghanistan, which it says facilitates groups like the TTP. Kabul denies allowing its territory to be used by armed militants and maintains that Pakistan’s security issues are a domestic matter.
Two policemen killed as judges’ convoy attacked by militants in northwestern Pakistan
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Two policemen killed as judges’ convoy attacked by militants in northwestern Pakistan
- Both judges remain safe in the shooting incident at a junction between Tank and Dera Ismail Khan
- A senior police official in the area says the militants primarily wanted to target the police personnel
Pakistan says it is targeting militant infrastructure in Afghanistan as Kabul threatens to hit Islamabad
- Ata Tarar says Pakistan is carrying out ‘precise intelligence-based operations’ to avoid civilian casualties
- Afghan defense minister says the underlying dispute between the two sides is over the ‘Durand Line’ border
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Saturday it was conducting intelligence-based operations against militant infrastructure inside Afghanistan while attempting to avoid civilian casualties, as a senior Afghan Taliban official warned Kabul could retaliate by targeting Islamabad if Pakistani forces struck the Afghan capital.
The escalating rhetoric comes as cross-border fighting between the two neighbors intensifies following clashes that began last month when Afghan forces launched attacks on Pakistani military installations along the frontier. Kabul said the assault was retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes targeting what Islamabad called militant camps inside Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s defense minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said last week the situation had effectively become “open war” between the two countries.
“Pakistan is only targeting terrorist infrastructures and support system with precise intelligence based operations ensuring no collateral damage takes place,” Pakistan’s Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said in a statement.
He challenged the recent claims made by an Afghan defense ministry spokesperson earlier this week who said his country was making significant battlefield gains against Pakistan including the killing of 109 soldiers and the capture or destruction of 14 military posts in large scale attacks.
“These so called attacks by Afghan Taliban in coordination with FAK [Fitna Al Khawarij] Terrorists once again confirm the nexus of Afghan Taliban regime and multiple terrorist organizations operating from within their territory,” Tarar continued. “All such attempts are responded to, immediately and effectively with severe retributive punishment that is swift, precise and effective.”
“The imaginary numbers being floated by Afghan Taliban regime are however not worth any serious comment,” he added.
Tarar said Pakistan’s military campaign — described as Operation Ghazb Lil Haq — had inflicted heavy losses on Afghan Taliban forces.
According to figures shared by the minister, 527 Taliban fighters had been killed and more than 755 injured since the clashes began, while 237 check posts were destroyed and 38 captured and destroyed. He said 205 tanks, armored vehicles and artillery guns were destroyed and 62 locations across Afghanistan had been targeted by air strikes.
Arab News could not independently verify the claims made by either side.
CIVILIAN CASUALTIES
Earlier this week, the United Nations raised concern over the toll of the escalating conflict on civilians.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said on Friday that 56 Afghan civilians — nearly half of them children — had been killed since hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan intensified.
However, Tarar questioned the UN findings, saying its assertions appeared to rely heavily on information provided by Taliban authorities and did not adequately reflect independently verified intelligence.
“Pakistan categorically reiterates that all counter-terrorism operations conducted by its security forces are carried out with the highest degree of precision, professionalism, and responsibility,” he said.
Islamabad has long accused the Taliban government of allowing militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to operate from Afghan soil, a charge Kabul denies.
“Operations are meticulously planned so that civilian areas remain completely safe,” the minister said. “The locations targeted are remote terrorist hideouts and facilities far removed from populated zones, including sensitive areas such as Kabul’s Green Zone.”
AFGHAN WARNING
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s Defense Minister Mullah Yaqoob issued a warning to Pakistan in remarks circulated by Afghan broadcaster TOLOnews.
“If Kabul lacks peace, there will be no peace in Islamabad. If Kabul is attacked, Islamabad will be attacked,” Yaqoob said in a promotional clip of an interview shared on social media.
Yaqoob rejected Pakistan’s justification that the presence of the TTP in Afghanistan warranted military action and suggested the underlying dispute was over the contested “Durand Line” border between the two countries.
So far, there has been no official response from Pakistan to Yaqoob’s remarks.
