ISLAMABAD: At least six policemen were killed in an explosion in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the interior ministry said on Friday, amid Pakistan’s continuing strikes against alleged militant hideouts in Afghanistan.

The explosion took place in the Lakki Marwat district near a police vehicle following an attempted drone strike by Afghan Taliban forces in Kohat, according to Pakistani officials.

Pakistan has struggled to contain a surge in militant attacks in KP, which borders Afghanistan, by the Pakistani Taliban, who have mounted assaults since the Afghan Taliban’s return to power in 2021.

“The brave soldiers of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police sacrificed their lives today for the nation’s peaceful tomorrow,” Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said, lauding police personnel in the restive region.

In a statement issued from his office, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack in Lakki Marwat and extended his prayers and best wishes for the deceased and injured personnel.

“We will never let sacrifices of police personnel and security forces go in vain,” he said. We are determined to completely eradicate terrorism from the country.”

The bomb attack came a day after two suspected militants were killed and four others were arrested during a joint operation conducted by police, counter-terrorism department and pro-government militias in the same district, police said.

Islamabad accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of failing to rein in militant groups that it says use Afghan soil to plan and launch attacks in Pakistan, a charge Kabul denies.

Last month, Pakistan conducted air strikes against what it said were Pakistani Taliban and Daesh targets in Afghanistan, provoking the Afghan side to retaliate across their shared border. The two neighbors have since been locked in a conflict.