PESHAWAR: At least six cops were injured on Saturday when a police party came under attack from militants in Pakistan’s northwestern Dera Ismail Khan district, a police official said, with no group claiming responsibility for the assault. 

Militants opened fire at a police convoy near Amin Farms in D.I. Khan’s Hathala town to conduct a raid, the office of the inspector-general of police said. It added that the deputy superintendent (DSP) of Kulachi town and the station house officer (SHO) of Hathala were inside the vehicle that was attacked.

The statement said militants fled the area after police retaliated with heavy firing

“Six police officers were injured in the attack,” another official of D.I. Khan police told Arab News on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the press. 

He said the injured included DSP Kulachi Kifayat Khan, Assistant Sub-Inspector Noman Khan and constables Ghulam Qasim, Ghulam Saeed, Hashim and a woman constable. 

KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi condemned the attack in a statement, lauding police officials for their swift retaliation. 

“The governor issued directives to provide all possible medical assistance to the injured police officials and prayed for their speedy recovery,” Kundi’s office said. 

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. KP has been plagued with militant attacks, mostly carried out by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group. It has targeted law enforcers and civilians in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) since 2007 in a bid to impose its strict brand of Islamic law across the country. 

TTP claimed responsibility for a bomb blast in Swat Valley earlier this month that targeted a peace rally, killing 17 people. 

The attacks in KP, which borders Afghanistan, increased after the Afghan Taliban seized power in Kabul in August 2021. This strained ties between Islamabad and Kabul, with Pakistan accusing Afghanistan of harboring TTP militants and facilitating militant attacks. 

Kabul denies the allegations and urges Islamabad to resolve its security challenges internally. Islamabad also accuses India of arming and funding militant attacks through the TTP and other groups in the area, a charge New Delhi rejects.