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Peshawar: At least six terrorists were killed and several others injured on Friday in a gunbattle with police in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The shootout ensued after the terrorists attacked police with sniper rifles and quadcopter strikes in the Lakki Marwat district.
The terrorists also targeted the “houses of villagers with quadcopter strikes”, resulting in “civilian casualties”, said a statement of the Regional Police Office Bannu.
It said that commandos of the Counter-Terrorism Department and armed locals assisted the police in the shootout.
“The terrorists armed with sniper rifles and quadcopters attacked the police in the rural area bordering Bannu district and located within the limits of Shaheed Asmatullah Khan Khattak police station of Serai Naurang town,“ said the police statement.
“The attack triggered a fierce gun battle as the law enforcers returned the fire effectively,” it said.
Although the official press release did not provide any details about police casualties, it stated that “during the armed clash, the law enforcers eliminated six terrorists and several of their accomplices were injured”.
“The casualties occurred as a result of the explosive payload released by the quadcopters.”
Meanwhile, Additional Deputy Commissioner Habibullah Wazir, who visited the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Serai Naurang town, told media persons that ten injured had been brought to the hospital so far.
“Some injured have been referred to a hospital in Bannu while others were in stable condition,” he said.
“The district administration has declared an emergency at the THQ Hospital as all doctors and paramedics have been called to duty,“ he said, adding that doctors, along with a sufficient quantity of medicines, are available and standard treatment facilities are being provided to the injured people.
The hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr Ishaq, also confirmed that they had received “ten injured so far and three of them had been referred to a hospital in Bannu owing to their critical condition”.
The situation was tense, and security had been tightened in the remote rural area on the special instructions of Regional Police Officer (RPO) Bannu Sajjad Khan.
“The RPO and Lakki Marwat DPO Nazir Khan are supervising the operation against Fitna al Khawarij terrorists as a large police contingent backed by the CTD personnel and volunteers of peace committees are present in the area,” added the release.
Fitna-al-Khawarij is a term that the state uses for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
It said that the law enforcers had surrounded the entire area and a search and clearance operation was underway, while additional forces had also been put on “high alert” to counter any untoward eventuality.
“Police will continue operations against the terrorists and anti-peace elements to establish lasting peace in the region and protect people’s lives and properties,” the RPO said.
In a separate incident, a terrorist commander was also killed in an exchange of fire with police and a CTD team in the Wanda Amir area of Lakki Marwat on Thursday.
On the same day, two wanted suspects, one of them wanted by the Punjab police, were arrested during a targeted operation in the district.
Pakistan has seen a rise in terrorist attacks in the recent past, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, since the banned TTP ended its ceasefire with the government in 2022.