Attack on northwest Pakistan police post kills ۱۱ officers

Fifteen attackers were also killed during the hours-long raid in Pakistan’s northwestern Hangu district.

An ambush on a police checkpoint in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has killed at least ۱۱ police officers and injured dozens, according to local authorities.

The attack late on Wednesday took place in the Hangu district near the Afghan border. The attackers first used explosive-laden quadcopters to target the police post before ambushing it, according to a police statement.

Security forces engaged in an hours-long gun battle with the attackers, killing ۱۵ of them while sustaining heavy casualties, said local police.

In addition to the ۱۱ police officers killed, ۲۸ were hospitalised with injuries.

Among those killed was Deputy Superintendent Diyar Khan, who had led reinforcements to the scene, local police said.

Attackers set three police cars alight and took another police vehicle, added district police officer Mujahid Hussain.

No group has claimed responsibility for the latest attack, which came days after a deadly suicide bombing targeting Pakistani soldiers in the nearby district of Tank. The Pakistan Taliban, known by the acronym TTP, claimed responsibility for ⁠the suicide attack.

Violence in Pakistan’s border areas has risen sharply in recent months, targeting mainly the military and police after an armed conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan killed hundreds earlier this year.

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said there has been a spike in attacks targeting police and security forces along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Islamabad claims fighters use safe havens in Afghanistan to train and ‌plan attacks in Pakistan. Afghanistan’s Taliban government has denied the charge and said the unrest is Pakistan’s domestic problem.

The Pakistan Taliban has been waging ⁠a rebellion against the Pakistani state since ۲۰۰۷ in an attempt to overthrow the government and replace it with their own brand of governance.

The surging attacks along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border have the potential to reignite fighting between the neighbours. The two countries engaged in their worst fighting in years in February, ‌with ‌Pakistan carrying out air strikes inside Afghanistan.

“Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have dropped to an all-time low,” said Hyder. “Each side accuses the other of harbouring groups that [work against each other].”