In a tragic incident in Dera Ismail Khan district of Pakistan’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, a police station fell victim to a terror attack, resulting in the loss of ten officers’ lives and injuring six others. The assault, occurring in the early hours of Monday, just three days prior to the Feb 8 national elections, was executed by a group of over 30 militants.
Among the casualties were six members of an elite force, rendering support to local law enforcement for the upcoming polls. The Election Commission of Pakistan has designated half of the country’s 90,675 polling stations as “sensitive” or “most sensitive.” The assailants briefly seized control of the police station after engaging in a prolonged exchange of gunfire lasting over two hours, as stated by KP police chief Hayatullah Gandapur. He mentioned that the attackers launched their assault from three different directions.
Aneesul Hasan, another senior official, reported that the attackers initiated their assault with sniper fire to pave their way into the building, followed by indiscriminate firing targeting the officers. “They also utilized multiple hand grenades, exacerbating the casualties,” he added. Despite facing retaliatory gunfire from the police, the terrorists managed to flee the scene.
The incident reflects the escalating violence since the Pakistani Taliban terminated a ceasefire with Islamabad in November 2022. KP and the volatile Baluchistan province in the southwest have borne the brunt of civilian and military casualties in attacks carried out by the Pakistan Taliban, Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISKP), and other militant factions. In 2023, terrorist-related fatalities and counter-terror operations in Pakistan reached a six-year peak, totaling 1,524 deaths, with 1,463 injuries recorded in 789 incidents, according to a study by the Centre for Research and Security Studies. KP and Balochistan accounted for 84% of the attacks and over 90% of the fatalities.
