Pakistan police targeted in attacks

Three killed in separate incidents, including one police officer and two brothers of a police station chief.

Map of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan, with Peshawar shown
A suicide bomber killed one policeman in Tahl, about 100km southwest of Peshawar [Al Jazeera]

Three people have been killed in attacks by suspected Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan fighters targeting police officers in Pakistan’s restive northwest, police officials have said.

On Monday, a suicide bomber killed one policeman in Tahl, about 100km southwest of Peshawar, while two brothers of a police station chief died in a separate attack on his home in Dera Ismail Khan, a city further south along the Indus river.

“A group of up to six militants attacked Tahl police station and one of the attackers blew himself when police intercepted them and responded to firing,” district police chief Anwar Saeed Kundi told the AFP news agency.

“A policeman was martyred and another was wounded,” he said, adding that the remaining attackers fled after the suicide bombing. Separately fighters attacked the home of a police station chief in Dera Ismail Khan, about 240km south of Peshawar, and killed his two brothers, district police chief Sadiq Baloch said.

The police officer, Saifur Rehman, was not at home when the attack occurred, he added.

Baloch said Rehman’s brothers were killed in revenge for an operation on Sunday in which one fighter was killed and another wounded.

Nobody has claimed the responsibility for the attacks but Pakistani Taliban fighters are known to routinely target police and security forces in the area.

Pakistan began a long-awaited push to clear armed group bases from the North Waziristan tribal area in June after a raid on Karachi airport dashed hopes in a series of faltering peace talks with the rebels.

North Waziristan has become a major base for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or Pakistani Taliban, which rose up against the state in 2007.

Pakistan’s army says it has killed more than 900 fighters and lost 82 soldiers since the start of the operation.

Source: AFP