PESHAWAR: Two police officers with the counter-terrorism department (CTD) were killed by unidentified gunmen in a drive-by shooting in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said on Monday. 

The Pakistan government has struggled to contain rising militancy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since the collapse of a fragile truce with the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), in November 2022. Pakistan says the takeover of Kabul by the Afghan Taliban with whom the TTP is allied has emboldened the group as it is able to operate out of and launch attacks from safe havens in neighboring Afghanistan, whose government denies the charges. 

The Center for Research and Security Studies said in a report in December last year Pakistan experienced a 40 percent surge in militant attacks in 2024 compared to the previous year, recording 905 incidents that resulted in 1,177 deaths and 1,292 injuries. These included 444 militant attacks that killed 685 soldiers and police officers and 927 civilians. A Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Performance Report for 2024 said 149 police officers of the force had been killed last year and 232 injured while performing their duties. 

The latest incident took place near the Tanda Dam in KP’s Kohat district.

“Two CTD officials, Zahid ur Rehman and Ghulam Mustafa, who were an inspector and assistant sub-inspector respectively, died on the spot following an attack,” Dr. Zahidullah, Kohat District Police Officer (DPO), told Arab News, saying the gunmen were on a motorbike and fled after killing the officers. 

Another police officer, Shahid Khan, added that the attackers had been monitoring the movement of the CTD officers.

“The incident took place all of a sudden and in a comparatively populated area,” he said. 

While no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, suspicion is likely to fall on the TTP, who almost daily targets security forces, police convoys and check-posts and carries out targeted killings and kidnappings of law enforcement and government officials in KP.

Islamabad has frequently blamed the surge in militancy in KP on Afghanistan, accusing it of sheltering and supporting militant groups that launch cross-border attacks. Afghan officials deny involvement and insist Pakistan’s security issues are an internal matter.